When white callers dial 911 and report that black people are engaged in what they report as untoward behavior, the worst-case scenario is that the police will show up with guns blazing. Before the civil rights movement, of course, there were laws allowing or mandating racial segregation in places of public accommodation. It is absolutely not trespass to stand one’s ground against a race-based ejection from a place of public accommodation. Right now, calling 911 on innocent black people is a costless form of indulgence in racialized fear — or worse, racist amusement. It is naive to believe that white callers are not aware of their race privileges when they call the cops on “suspicious” black people.

Source: Washington Post May 16, 2018 09:56 UTC