Dave Farber
2018-10-11 10:23:56 UTC
Date: October 11, 2018 19:16:10 JST
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] I Was Reported to Police as an Agitated Black Male =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=8A_-_for_Simply_Walking_to_Work_=
I Was Reported to Police as an Agitated Black Maleâââfor Simply Walking to Work
A Black employee at the University of Massachusetts Amherst opens up about the racial profiling incident that rocked the campus and upended his life.
By Reginald Andrade, Consumer Manager of Disability Services, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Oct 10 2018
<https://medium.com/aclu/i-was-reported-to-police-as-an-agitated-black-male-for-simply-walking-to-work-68306345ff6>
Last month, I walked across the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to get to work. It was an ordinary stroll. But to a bystander, the sight of an educated Black professional going about his day was apparently cause for alarm.
That bystander called the police. My workplace was shut down. I was, and remain, humiliated.
Racial profiling at predominantly white institutions is nothing new, and this wasnât the first time that I had to grit my teeth through a degrading interaction with police at the university. But this time, it made the news.
The day had started off normally, with my morning exercise routine at the campus recreation center before work. I was still in a positive mood during my daily stroll from the campus recreation center to my office at the Whitmore Administration Building, where I work as a case manager for the universityâs disability services office. Over the years, Iâve helped hundreds of UMass Amherst students with physical and intellectual disabilities get the resources they deserve. Itâs a role I take pride in, and I give it my all every day.
But on September 14, campus police were waiting for me when I arrived at the reception desk at Whitmore. I had no idea why but I knew it couldnât be good. My heart started pounding.
Two university detectives sat me down me in an office and closed the door. Bewildered, I asked what was happening. They refused to answer, as they peppered me with questions.
âWhat time did you wake up?â âWhat were you doing at the campus recreation center?â âDid you come into the building agitated?â I felt confused, powerless, and scared, but made sure to maintain my composure. I remembered that even unarmed Black people disproportionately get killed during police encounters, and it was incumbent on me as an innocent Black man to show that I wasnât a threat.
It wasnât until the end of their interrogation that they revealed why I was being questioned. Someone had called the universityâs anonymous tip line, reporting that they had seen an âagitated Black maleâ who was carrying a âa heavy backpack that is almost hitting the groundâ as he approached the Whitmore Administration Building. Iâââthe âagitated Black maleââââapparently posed such a threat that police put the entire building on lockdown for half an hour.
I have no idea how the caller come to the conclusion that I was âagitated,â considering they hadnât interacted with me. I do know that Black people are often stereotyped as angry, armed, or dangerous.
Iâve had to answer to the police before for being a Black man at UMass Amherst.
I remember the time that someone reported me to the police for listening to an audiobook in an empty classroom when I was an undergraduate at the university.
And the time, just four years ago, when someone decided that the sight of me entering my own office to drop off work supplies on a Saturday was reason to call the cops.
The surveillance and policing of my behavior has taken a toll on my mental health. I feel paranoid and unsafe on a campus that claims to be inclusive. It feels like any move I make, no matter how ordinary, can trigger a stressful encounter with the cops.
Itâs not just here in Amherst. Itâs also down the road, where a Black Smith College student was reported to police for eating in a common room. And in New Haven, where a Black graduate student had the police called on her for taking a nap in her dorm building. Also at Colorado State University, where two Native American teenagers were reported to 911 for joining a campus tour.
And just think of all the stories that havenât gone viral.
People who carry out their racial biases by calling the police have the luxury of staying anonymous. The targets of their calls donât have that privilege. Before picking up the phone, people should ask themselves: Would I be making this call if the person were white? If no one is in danger, am I ok with the fact that this police call could follow the person for the rest of their life?
[snip]
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-------------------------------------------Subject: [Dewayne-Net] I Was Reported to Police as an Agitated Black Male =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=8A_-_for_Simply_Walking_to_Work_=
I Was Reported to Police as an Agitated Black Maleâââfor Simply Walking to Work
A Black employee at the University of Massachusetts Amherst opens up about the racial profiling incident that rocked the campus and upended his life.
By Reginald Andrade, Consumer Manager of Disability Services, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Oct 10 2018
<https://medium.com/aclu/i-was-reported-to-police-as-an-agitated-black-male-for-simply-walking-to-work-68306345ff6>
Last month, I walked across the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to get to work. It was an ordinary stroll. But to a bystander, the sight of an educated Black professional going about his day was apparently cause for alarm.
That bystander called the police. My workplace was shut down. I was, and remain, humiliated.
Racial profiling at predominantly white institutions is nothing new, and this wasnât the first time that I had to grit my teeth through a degrading interaction with police at the university. But this time, it made the news.
The day had started off normally, with my morning exercise routine at the campus recreation center before work. I was still in a positive mood during my daily stroll from the campus recreation center to my office at the Whitmore Administration Building, where I work as a case manager for the universityâs disability services office. Over the years, Iâve helped hundreds of UMass Amherst students with physical and intellectual disabilities get the resources they deserve. Itâs a role I take pride in, and I give it my all every day.
But on September 14, campus police were waiting for me when I arrived at the reception desk at Whitmore. I had no idea why but I knew it couldnât be good. My heart started pounding.
Two university detectives sat me down me in an office and closed the door. Bewildered, I asked what was happening. They refused to answer, as they peppered me with questions.
âWhat time did you wake up?â âWhat were you doing at the campus recreation center?â âDid you come into the building agitated?â I felt confused, powerless, and scared, but made sure to maintain my composure. I remembered that even unarmed Black people disproportionately get killed during police encounters, and it was incumbent on me as an innocent Black man to show that I wasnât a threat.
It wasnât until the end of their interrogation that they revealed why I was being questioned. Someone had called the universityâs anonymous tip line, reporting that they had seen an âagitated Black maleâ who was carrying a âa heavy backpack that is almost hitting the groundâ as he approached the Whitmore Administration Building. Iâââthe âagitated Black maleââââapparently posed such a threat that police put the entire building on lockdown for half an hour.
I have no idea how the caller come to the conclusion that I was âagitated,â considering they hadnât interacted with me. I do know that Black people are often stereotyped as angry, armed, or dangerous.
Iâve had to answer to the police before for being a Black man at UMass Amherst.
I remember the time that someone reported me to the police for listening to an audiobook in an empty classroom when I was an undergraduate at the university.
And the time, just four years ago, when someone decided that the sight of me entering my own office to drop off work supplies on a Saturday was reason to call the cops.
The surveillance and policing of my behavior has taken a toll on my mental health. I feel paranoid and unsafe on a campus that claims to be inclusive. It feels like any move I make, no matter how ordinary, can trigger a stressful encounter with the cops.
Itâs not just here in Amherst. Itâs also down the road, where a Black Smith College student was reported to police for eating in a common room. And in New Haven, where a Black graduate student had the police called on her for taking a nap in her dorm building. Also at Colorado State University, where two Native American teenagers were reported to 911 for joining a campus tour.
And just think of all the stories that havenât gone viral.
People who carry out their racial biases by calling the police have the luxury of staying anonymous. The targets of their calls donât have that privilege. Before picking up the phone, people should ask themselves: Would I be making this call if the person were white? If no one is in danger, am I ok with the fact that this police call could follow the person for the rest of their life?
[snip]
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