by Till Chills
As a young Black man in amerikkka, I already know that it will be hard for me to go about my day without facing any form of negative treatment because of the color of my skin. It became such a pattern that I began to accept it as just a part of life. I would fight against it, but the battle is still tiring because of the attacks on my self-esteem as a young person.
On October 7, 2019 around 11:00p.m, I was walking on Timber Drive between Aversboro Rd and Benson Rd in Garner, NC. As I’m walking I see a police car drive (Garner PD) in front of me and stop by the post office where I’m headed towards. The officer gets out the car with his hand on his gun and waits for me to walk up to him. He asked me where I was going and why I was out so late. He also asked where I lived and what my name was. I asked him what made him stop and talk to me he said that a bystander called in, because they were worried about me and wanted to know if I was okay. However when I applied for the voice call to be released I was only forwarded a written report. During all this another officer pulls up behind me, a female police and she sits there and listens while the other officer questions me.
I could not call them out on what they did or not answer the questions they asked me, because I was alone at night with just those two police. No witnesses if anything went left, just my word against the officers. As we can see in the news this does not commonly end well for Black men confronted by angry racist cops. It is very scary when you can’t even trust the people who swore to serve and protect.
In the meantime, know your rights I did some research – Do you have to identify yourself to police in North Carolina? Unlike some states, North Carolina has no “stop and identify” statute. This means that, as a general rule, a person who is stopped by police in North Carolina is NOT required to provide his or her name or produce identification.
If this has ever happened to you please don’t isolate yourself, talk to someone about it. Learn what your rights are and assert them while putting your safety first because police kill Black men and don’t really need a reason.
Leave a comment on your unwarranted police stops in Garner, NC. Request the report from your county police. Here is the link to request incident reports in Wake County.
Coincidently, I made my request in a timely manner and the call from the concerned caller wasn’t forwarded to me because it doesn’t exist.
Collectively it is time to put the racist Garner Police department to stop racially profiling Black people.
