I've been pulled over twice for speeding and gotten off with a warning both times. I'm white. The first time I also brought the cleavage into play, and the second time (15 years and 50 additional pounds later) I think it was a mixture of white privilege and looking like his mother.
In other transport news, I've flown an average of once a year for the past 20 years. I think I've been pulled aside for a pat down maybe twice. Once I was traveling with a middle-aged, middle class African American lady. She got pulled for a pat-down and her carry-on luggage thoroughly checked on the way out and then again on the way back. She said it happened every time she flew.
This past summer, my sister was pulled over for speeding while I was in the car, and the cop did kind of stand there for a little while before coming over. (She was driving about 55 in a 35 zone. The GPS she was using displays the speed limit, and it was displaying 50, and she didn't notice that the actual signs said different.) It was while we were in Maine, in a car with NJ plates, and the cop made sure to tell her that, if she wanted to contest the ticket, she had to do it in person, in a court in Maine, in about three weeks.
I just killed a mosquito as it was biting me on the neck. Mildly concerned that it was a transmogrified vampire.
8.3 earthquake in Chile; tsunami watch in Hawaii.
Oh, dear. There's also a tsunami watch in Chile.
Last ticket I got, pulled over for speeding 5 miles over the limit in rural Idaho by patronizing as fuck cops. Driving a rental, being blown past by locals.
In this area, pretty damned sure I'm not the one with the target on me. Never gotten a ticket here (yet) and fully expect if I do, it'll be because a slow night.
Walking back from the pool one night, had a cop pull a U-ie in front of me as I was about to cross the street. It was the depths of winter; only thing visible (and not really even that) were my eyes. Conversation abruptly changed from curt "where are you going." to "there's been a lot of foot crime..," when I pulled down my scarf revealing my whiteness. Spotlight came off my face.
I was unamused. I imagine if it were one of my black neighbors, who have lived here longer and done more for this community, it would have been a different conversation.
I pretty much view all cops here with skepticism. I'm likely to benefit from my interactions with them, but it's because the root is rotten. I cannot rejoice in that.
Yeah, I get that, sarameg
A couple weeks ago I got an alert from the campus that there was an altercation off campus. There are usually a few alerts in a row until the ruckus clears. This one ended with an Incident Resolution notice: it was a drunk community member with a gun, no violence, brought in without incident. Why isn't that the norm?
As for the quake, I can't really fathom 8.3 except that it sounds scary and please please not too much devastation.
One of my office mates got an alert about the tsunami watch, but it was truncated, so I had to look it up. The arrival time (if there is one) was oddly specific: 3:11am local time.
I got pulled over here (not stopping at a stop sign), but did not get a ticket. In this case, I think it's because my car was in my name (i.e. not a rental. i.e. not a tourist)
Today I drove by a parked policeman who had his radar gun out. I was speeding and just got a hand signal from him to slow down. Whew.
