Pizza, the po-po and two points for every song reference you get

[shonuff2k]

So, my first day at work and everyone already loves me. I'm pretty sure I got in about two days worth of training in 6 hours and helped save their asses in the middle of a totally unexpected Tuesday evening rush. The story as it was laid out to me is I'm next in line to be her new favorite assistant and to do the responsible things that no one else

Comments

[strega42]

I can't even begin to empathize about the police bullshit. :( I just don't have the relevant background.

I *can* say, however, based on listening to the recorded voices of a number of men and women with way the hell too much education, from a variety of countries and racial backgrounds, that you *DO* sound black. And that it has EVERYTHING to do with tone and quality of voice. You just don't sound like a - oh, wait. I can't say that word. I have to use a long awkward phrase to indicate an inner city, deliberately undereducated, belligerent idiot with some distantly common ancestry to yours.

On a more pleasant note (I hope), glad the new job is working out for you. Hope it continues to go well.

[butafli]

I *can* say, however, based on listening to the recorded voices of a number of men and women with way the hell too much education, from a variety of countries and racial backgrounds, that you *DO* sound black. And that it has EVERYTHING to do with tone and quality of voice. You just don't sound like a - oh, wait. I can't say that word. I have to use a long awkward phrase to indicate an inner city, deliberately undereducated, belligerent idiot with some distantly common ancestry to yours.

That is one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard.

[strega42]

I'm sorry you feel that way. After eight years of explicitly listening to a large number of black men from a wide variety of American backgrounds, there is a distinct voice tonal quality that most black men have. It has nothing to do with diction, education, or accent. And I actually find it rather pleasant. I find it to be similar to:
Bill Cosby (when he's not being deliberately goofy).
James Earl Jones
Wesley Snipes
Ving Rhames
Michael Dorn
LeVar Burton
Sidney Potier
Colin Powell
Barack Obama

They all have a particular tonal quality I don't hear in men from other genetic backgrounds. Their diction, word choice, and manner of speaking indicate "white" to someone who's not paying attention to voice, only to words.

You don't have to agree with me - and I'm sorry you find my experience *ignorant* - but after eight years of listening to people, and then only meeting them in person months later, I do find this to be fairly consistent.

[butafli]

8 years compared to a lifetime??

ignorant

[mouse2cat]

I don't realize how much of that actually goes on. So whenever I do hear about it I am always shocked

[shonuff2k]

Please tell me you pointed out the irony of his complaint. I would give him hell the next time he wandered back with a beer.

[mzmadmike]

If they are on your property, you do have the right to ask their business, provide a warrant, and call Dispatch to confirm they are who they say they are.

I recall getting pulled over at 0200 on my way to a show. I was doing 65. What I wasn't aware of was that this rural interstate near Wheeling was 55. Station wagon. National Guard plates. Clean cut white male.

Cop pulls me over. "What are you doing?"

"Going camping."

"Where?"

"Slippery Rock, PA."

"Why there?"

"I don't believe that's any of your business, sir."

"Getting smart with me?"

Oh, the temptation to reply, "If you have to ask, isn't it obvious?"

Throws a "notice to appear" at me and drives off. Courthouse at 1313 Euff St. No city. No county. Presumably WV. No phone number. No fine amount. Just a court date.

I can just imagine if I'd been black. Probably ransacked the car, charged me with lots of violations, impounded crap.

I avoid Inbredville when I drive now.

[shonuff2k]

It kinda doesn't work that way since we live in an apartment/townhouse complex so he was technically in the street and not in front of our building. Still, I study enough law in my free time to know my rights and how much I can piss an asshole officer off without giving him any sort of probable cause to search me for illegally imported chicken. Had I been in that driver seat the conversation would have lasted half as long as it did, and there's no way in hell they'd be putting a flashlight to MY car like I have something they need to see. I would've sat my ass right there in my car until they pulled off. People like that will fuck with you if they think you don't fully understand what the police do and do not have a right to do.

[mzmadmike]

Part of why I moved out of Indy. The cops were turning into corporate thugs for the utilities and the mayor. And I'm a CONSERVATIVE saying that.

[skywalker6705]

I am really saddened that your hands were (in a manner of speaking) tied on acting in this instance. The amount of lawsuits you can throw at an officer for abuse of authority are so plentiful. It helps that they're constantly being recorded while on the job :D

But with the way the GA/ATL police behave overall, I'm fucking surprised that they didn't try and get a no-knock on you and rip your couches apart. For me, it's fucking sickening to be labeled as "one of them." I kinda get what you mean by wanting to just be a well dressed man. For me, I'd like the same, not to be the well-dressed enemy. I honestly (and sadly) cannot wait for the baby-boomers and their spawn to pass away, and do away with generations of bassackwards thought. Hopefully this shit really will become something of the past someday.

[ashandsilence]

I only really read the last line. But Cop Killer! I know it!