The “Routine Traffic Stop” translated…
By definition, a routine traffic stop is justified if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the occupant is unlicensed or the vehicle is unregistered. However, the officer does not need reasonable suspicion of the occupant’s involvement in criminal activities. Let’s just say police officers are free to assume all sorts of things, which is very problematic for Black Americans.
The Driving Roulette Game
Today, driving while Black has become a risky experience — something along the lines of the game known as Russian Roulette, which refers to the country where this deadly game originated-allegedly. Roulette is the element of risk-taking best understood as spinning the gun’s revolving cylinder holding a single bullet. Participants take turns spinning the cylinder, which resembles spinning a roulette wheel. When the cylinder stops, the participants put the gun up to their head and pull the trigger. At some point, one of the players is going to die. It’s only a matter of time. “POW! GAME OVER!”
The Driving Roulette Participants
- African American Victim (aka: U.S. citizens and most often male)
- Cops (aka: police officers, most often white males who swore to protect citizens *wink-wink)
The Strategy
For African American citizens, the strategy is to stay alive by avoiding the routine traffic stop. And to be crystal clear, routine traffic stops by their exact design are meant to hunt for experiences of force and dominance. — As fatal as this game can turn for African Americans, it is nonetheless a game of chances, and it’s only a matter of time that it becomes deadly.
And, you ask, why would I say such horrible things about police officers? My reply is simple, “Go spend the weekend hunting in the woods with them. They’re damn good at hunting!”
The training regiment for far too many police officers has reinforced hunting techniques embedded within harmful and erroneous perceptions of African Americans. Many police officers have ingrained ideas that Black people have natural criminal tendencies, which is absolutely and totally untrue. That would be letting me get away with saying all white people are racist, which is also inaccurate. And, while I’m here, let’s also dispel the lie that all Black people have rhythm or can always spot the perfect watermelon because that too is certainly untrue.
Roulette Traffic Stops — It’s a Game of Numbers
Given that far too many police officers have honed their hunt to kill instincts, the routine traffic stop has become their spinning roulette wheel game. The objective is to perform enough “routine” stops to get to that one opportunity to… hunt and kill. Why? Because, for many white police officers who enjoy hunting, routine traffic stops is likewise a sport for them. They have become predators, and our civil rules for engaging Black motorists allow this sport to exist. — For predatory police officers, the adrenaline high is worth every mundane routine traffic stop when they eventually “catch one.” Like predators with senses on high alert, they are anxiously waiting for the moment to release the trigger for that powerful burst of adrenaline. They are addicted to it, which is why hunting is so powerfully special. And, with mobile radios strapped to their bodies, they are lightning-fast to set off the triggers of other predators hunting nearby, ready and anxious to join in on the kill. Think about Bambi the deer grazing quietly in the forest, or the caribou, a bear, or another living creatures for which these predators patiently circle low-income neighborhoods for hours upon hours, waiting for their turn for the triggers to go off then all coming running with lights, sirens, and guns drawn. By the time they arrive on scene, every bit of adrenaline has migrated to their trigger finger and they are more than ready to take aim and fire.
The thrill of exerting violent-dominant force upon another living soul is a rush they thrive on and then make up all sorts of lies to cover one another’s asses when they get called out. “I believed my life was in danger.” We know in almost every situation that is a predatory lie.
Patiently, police officers perform countless routine traffic stops on African Americans in exchange for the single moment of taking down their prey with a spray of bullets. Why? Because they are predators. And, you ask, why would I say such horrible things about police officers? My reply is simple, “Go spend the weekend hunting in the woods with them. Their predatory behaviors in the woods are eerily similar to their predatory behavior in the hoods performing routine traffic stops. In either case, they are killing for sport.
