When I turned 18, I got the talk from my parents. Not the birds and the bees talk, the "when you get pulled over by police" talk. Keep your hand son the wheel, roll down your window, have your id and insurance with you and listen to what they say.
The first time I was pulled over, my tag lights had finally gone out on me and they just wanted to make sure I had a tag in my car. This was back in 2018 just a month after getting my license.
This story is about the second time. I was driving after working a night-shift at work. We didn't close our store until midnight and I had an hour-long commute back to my apartment. I was a block away from my apartment when I saw a car follow me from behind. I was trying to stay awake until I got home. My maintenance light had come on so I was gonna pull over at the gas station.
As soon as I turned the corner, the blue lights came on. I pulled over, opened the door with my hands up. He told me I had stopped over the crosswalk at the last light. He asked for my ID and that's when I realized when I was going through my bag that my wallet fell out of my bag in the lockers at work.
I immediately start to shake and panic and he sees how scared I am. He told me to relax and asked me if anything illegal was in my car. I then gave him my name and birthday so he can find my license in the system. I waited in the car and those were the longest three minutes of my life. He walks back and asked me if I'm from Acworth and I told him yes. He went to high school in the same county and saw that I was a student at the college. He gave me a warning citation and said if I ever get tired driving back from work to call them for a ride so I wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel.
I walked into my apartment and went into my room and cried. I was still shaking and couldn't still my body from what has just happened. I got into bed and called my best friend who was asleep. She knew if I'm calling this late, something was wrong and when I told her what happened, she stayed on the phone with me and calmed me down.
I knew that I would get pulled over for anything these days and I'm always careful. I keep asking myself that the one time it would happen, it would be the night my wallet falls out of my bag. Even though the officer was aware of my exhaustion and that I didn't mean to leave without it, what if it was a different person
This is something that black people have to go through whenever we walk outside our homes every day. That's why we protest, that's why we march, that's why we are not silent. So the next time you see a story about an officer and a black person, think about what that person has to live with before you speak and pass judgment.
