White privilege: When you run a red light and hit someone, and everyone worries about you

[gollygee]

and blames him.

http://aattp.org/heres-what-white-privilege-in-america-looks-like-images/

Well, I just witnessed blatant racial injustice with my own eyes. I was getting in my car after exiting a store when a young black man stumbled past me and collapsed against the store wall. When I got out to see if he was okay, a group of white people came rushing over, one of whom was a 20-something white woman who declared in distress, “I ran a red light and hit him with my car!” People immediately assured her that SHE would be okay, meanwhile the young man is writhing in pain on the ground, pants leg torn, tears running down his face. When the police arrived and the young woman explained what happened, it was suggested to her that maybe the light had been yellow and that the young man had “darted out into the street into her path.” I was floored. I said, “But she just SAID she ran the red light and hit him in the intersection!”

The police officers then led the young woman away and began talking with her privately in low tones. When the paramedics FINALLY got there I was surprised at the hostility they showed towards the young man. One blonde female EMT (shown in the photo) suggested that he couldn’t be THAT hurt if he was able to walk from the place where he was struck to the sidewalk where he finally collapsed. White bystanders commented several times about “What that poor girl must be going through.” I was the only one who commented on what the young man must be going through, what, with his mangled leg and all. I am absolutely positive that in the end “that poor girl” will be absolved of all wrongdoing and be able to go on her merry way. After all, she just ran a red light and slammed her car into the body of some black kid on a bike, right?

And people wonder why black people are so angry and want to break shit.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[treestar]

2. Weird. Was she extremely good looking?

She was at fault and admitted it.

Not a single one of the white people there worried about the kid?

[Heidi]

3. Kick!

[BlueJazz]

4. I've seen a little bit of this crap my own self. I was a witness to a minor rear end crash..

,....which happened a few years ago. The white guy turned right (on red) at a fast speed (+15mph) and sped up, hitting a black teen that was backing out. I was RIGHT across the street, staring at the whole thing.

Was not severe damage but guess who got the ticket ?? (hint..the black kid was backing out at 1-2 mph)

I went home thinking: "Boy, they just love to screw the black race"...and pissed off about it.

[ReRe]

8. Did you tell the cop you was a witness?

That you seen the whole thing unfold?

[BlueJazz]

10. Sure did...but...the guy that hit the black kid's car had a car behind him that told the Policeman>>

"We didn't see the guy do anything wrong." (Which either was a lie or they just flat out didn't see anything)
I KNOW the Black kid did everything that you're suppose to do...back out slowly..etc.
The guy that hit him was just plain. "In a damn hurry and was not paying attention"

Sometimes you think...maybe I was wrong. Not in this case.

[ReRe]

21. It was a rear-end accident!

The guy in the rear is ALWAYS at fault in any situation. Did you write out long-hand everything you seen? If not, do it now, as there often are things you will forget as time goes on. If the law officer did not take your name and tell you to write down, right now, everything you seen, then I don't know what our policing system has come to. I guarantee you, this will come to trial, unless he (the police officer) indeed did do the right thing (and let's presume he did, ok?) by ticketing the guy who tail-ended the guy driving out of his driveway. Thank you for doing your civic duty by stepping forward as a witness. Many people are too preoccupied by the rat-trace we're all in and don't want to get involved.

[BlueJazz]

29. This was not even close. I was drinking coffee...outside...sitting by the curb...in a chair.

I saw the dude come around the corner at a good clip....I then saw the kid start to back out like a snail (again 1-2 MPH)
I remember saying to myself WHOA!!...that nut is gonna' get it!
No Excuse. Even my Grandmother would have missed him by 10-15 ft. (She would have stopped)
He could not stop because he was:
1: Not paying attention.
2: speeding up after a fast illegal turn on red.

[ReRe]

34. Well, he's in trouble now.

I think it was the first thing I told my son when he was learning how to drive... that if you rear-end someone, it's YOUR fault. No if, ands or buts about it. And it goes against YOUR driving record. Your insurance will go up, because if anyone was hurt, your insurance co is going to have to pay out the ying-yang for it.

[Chemisse]

67. Not if the car is backing out of a driveway.

The car on the road has the right of way. Someone pulling or backing out onto the road is responsible for making sure the way is clear before doing it.

[ReRe]

73. Sounds like they were both doing the wrong thing.

[karynnj]

44. The fact that the red turn was illegal is likely the key piece of information

The red light meant that the person backing out would have had no reason to expect someone entering the road he was pulling out onto from that direction. (I kind of remember that there were some minor fender benders when the law in a state I lived in changed to allow right turns on red. )

[ReRe]

69. Excellent point...

... if it was a "no turn on red" corner.

[1StrongBlackMan]

64. LOL ...

The guy in the rear is ALWAYS at fault in any situation.

Unless one of the cars was going in reverse.

[ReRe]

70. LOL

[Art_from_Ark]

66. There is an exception to that rule

I rear-ended a guy once, but that was because he made an improper lane change by abruptly moving into my lane, then slamming on his brakes. Even though I rear-ended him, it was his fault.

[ReRe]

71. Can understand that..

... extenuating circumstance. I basically was talking about just driving down the road and keeping your eyes on the road ahead/car in front of you.

[jtuck004]

19. He got the ticket because he was backing and had no right-of-way.

More people should read their driver's manual.

[BlueJazz]

23. Ok..I'll put it like this. I know of no one in my life that would have hit the black guy.

Even the worse driver I've ever known. The Guy in the Ford mustang "Blew the Red light" as if he was turning at 3 o'clock in the morning with no traffic. He did not have time to slow down. PERIOD. HE blew the light. End of Story.

[jtuck004]

31. He may have blown the red light. The person backing had no right of way.

Had the person running through the light been hit he or she would have been at fault. But it happened after that.

Then again, most people are ignorant of traffic law., as well as many other things.

Too bad people need to reach for things that don't exist, when there are so many legitimate grievances in the world already.

Waste of time, as writing this to you is. Won't make that mistake again, along with reading your reply.

bye.

[BlueJazz]

37. You are Wrong on this one. Also>>

"when there are so many legitimate grievances in the world already."

Strange enough, I'm capable of being pissed off at some black kid that gets murdered by a scared cop PLUS
Dig this> I can also be pissed off when I see a person blow a red light and cause an innocent person to get a ticket they did not deserve. And I do this absolutely, miraculous thing : AT THE SAME TIME!!... isn't that simply amazing ??

So..From now on...everybody who is going to back out of a parking spot....wait until dark...call your friends...have them bring flags down to your location....plus warning lights and maybe even set up road signs that say: WARNING..WARNING A PERSON IS GOING TO BACK OUT AT 2 MPH..SO DON'T BLOW THE LIGHT AND HIT THEM.!!

LOL

[ReRe]

72. .

[kelliekat44]

5. Kick for those who don't want to hear it! nt

[handmade34]

16. "for those who don't want to hear it!"

sadly the one's who hear, but don't want to, ....just don't and can deny it without repercussion

[raven mad]

61. Understood - but I've seen it.

And I'd rather hear it than see it. This makes my heart hurt.

[Mr Dixon]

6. WOW

But I'm not surprised, this is America you just have to expected.

[IronLionZion]

7. Bodymore's racial and economic issues are completely ridiculous

I've seen similar stuff many times, and this could easily be me. Sometimes I wonder if people in cars might be looking to run someone down for walking. There are a lot of people who walk or ride bikes around Bmore, and some folks have an attitude that those folks must have failed at life somehow. Because real Americans would drive of course. And lots of roads don't have sidewalks and there are not a lot of bike paths or trails.

I suspect gender might be a factor in this story too. People are often biased towards being more concerned for young females first when multiple people are injured.

[lunasun]

11. She was injured?

This is how bad it is!

[kcr]

41. But she wasn't injured

This was race, plain and simple.

[whistler162]

46. Sounds more like PFS - Pretty Female Syndrome

[kcr]

53. You're right. No such thing as racism n/t

[IronLionZion]

58. One could make the argument for misogyny

since some people naturally assume that young attractive women need to be rescued.

[indivisibleman]

59. I know of a case though

where a woman was innocent of charges and got off.
From then on most people claimed she got off because she was pretty regardless of the fact that there was absolutely no conclusive evidence that she did anything wrong.
My point being that PFS can be thrown out there and people then accept it as fact.
The issue above seems to me to be entirely about race.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. You are a witness.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like that black man is going to get the legal assistance he needs. I don't know how you would do it discretely, but if he does take this to court you need to contact his lawyer and tell him what you saw.

[lunasun]

12. You think she is going to get a ticket?????

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Civil court.

The man was injured. If the driver ran a red light there is a number of ambulance chasers who would love to take this on.

[lunasun]

17. Doubtful that would go anywhere . Lawyers pick and choose too!

[Baitball Blogger]

24. The facebook page may give this the prominence it needs

to get the wheels moving.

[joeglow3]

51. I have seen plenty of lawyers only motivated by one color.....green.

[gollygee]

18. I posted a link to and a quote from an article

I am not a witness. The person who wrote the quoted Facebook post is.

[Baitball Blogger]

22. I followed the link after I posted.

A very good article. Thank you for posting it.

[gollygee]

25. I hope that person contacted the police

although the Facebook post's descriptions of the on-scene police officers' reactions makes me think contacting the police might not help much.

[maced666]

27. If you are getting the whole truth.

But you arent. One side only, there is always another.

[gollygee]

33. It's an eye witness

who probably saw and heard more than you did. Do you think the Facebook post is a complete fabrication?

[cstanleytech]

62. Might wanna check out this link golly

http://www.innocenceproject.org/understand/Eyewitness-Misidentification.php

[heaven05]

13. With yet another example of racial hate

that this OP is, and no all black people are not criminals, thugs and crackheads, this just for the apologist(s), along with Michael Brown/Ferguson, the Garner murder in NYC and countless other stories like this, I have come to the conclusion, maybe premature, but true nonetheless, this country and the world is building to some kind of climax that WON'T be beneficial to countless millions of the human race, I feel.

With the racial and political hate and division present in america, the ethnic and religious strife(s) in Ukraine/Russia and Iraq/ISIS, Syria, the rumblings of Iran and n. Korea, small tension(s)/confrontations between military forces of the ROC and the US, Afghanistan still burning, Israel/ Palestinians and the slaughter of thousands of innocents. No all Palestinians are not terrorist, but in Gaza, oppressed, for sure.

I woke up this morning with this question on my mind. Why, what is driving all this hate, murder, slaughter, madness? Call me a blowhard, CTer, paranoid CTer, whatever, I can't worry about that.

What I am taking notice of is the widespread/worldwide anger and killing on a mass scale, not massive yet, but the numbers are adding up. I won't go into the numbers concerning the Bushco cabal and innocent Iraqis. Beating a dead horse, some would say. No pun intended.

Just musing on a question. Why is all this going on. Are we being 'prepared' for something larger? Just slightly(growing) worried. Okay finished with first cup.

Thanks for OP. Something clicked.

[JustAnotherGen]

76. Shhh - I'm with you

[Enthusiast]

15. Kicked and recommended! That sucks!

Geez.

[Catherine Vincent]

20. Kick!

It makes you angry. I read this after watching the video of the lady that was mistakenly stopped by police because someone called 911 and described a car that was totally different than her car....by black males speeding and waving a gun out the window. The woman was minding her own business and had kids in her car when they pulled her over. They told her to get out and handcuffed her. Scared the daylights out of her and the kids.

[lumberjack_jeff]

26. White privilege exists. Male privilege does not. Exhibit #1. n/t

[BainsBane]

47. When SCOTUS declares men unequal under the law

and a Supreme Court Justice announces that the 14th Amendment doesn't extend to men, then you get back to me about how male privilege doesn't exist. Until then, you are ignoring reality. That reactionary shtick is getting old.

[lumberjack_jeff]

50. I bet you didn't expect me to get back to you so soon.

Here you go.

My motto is to underpromise and overdeliver. I didn't just give you one Supreme Court Justice, I gave you six who "announced that the 14th amendment doesn't extend to men"

[kcr]

54. Since you're so good at it, point out the "female privilege" that this mother enjoyed?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025441266

[Bonx]

28. Didn't work out so well for this guy

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/police-man-beaten-after-stopping-to-check-on-welfare-of-child-struck-by-his-car/

[gollygee]

32. I heard about that, since I'm from Michigan

It was pretty big news. So if a black man accidentally hit a white kid and got beaten by four white guys afterward, would the black man have been treated the same by the police? By the health care providers? Would people, largely strangers, have donated close to $200,000 to help him?

[lunasun]

35. +1

[Bonx]

36. No idea. I can't see the future.

[uponit7771]

48. You do know Americas recent racial past though... or should know by now... that can't be ignored ..

... and is more accurate indicator of how people act.

[uponit7771]

49. +1, .....Nope, anyone who's been paying half assed attention knows that

[joeglow3]

52. Wow. That was a sharp 90 degree turn.

[heaven05]

40. you're AlWAYS where you are

[heaven05]

80. one out of ten thousand

beatings and shootings with the AA number being huge. Not condoning what happened to this individual and the perps should face charges. Yet what you are TRYING to do is obviously transparent and without merit. Not slick at all.

[polly7]

30. That female EMT was a DUNCE.

She needs to go back to her books. Adrenalin and fear .... my cousin was hit riding his motorbike, he not only walked away, he signed himself into the hospital with broken fingers and within 24 hours was on life-support, and eventually taken off and died. She needs to be disciplined, or at the very least have some ongoing training. Beyond stupid.

[dilby]

38. Woman does not look white.

I was hit on my bike 2 weeks ago here in Oregon, it was the girls fault and she was not cited when the cops came out. I was given an accident report by the cops with her insurance information and the cops basically acted like the accident was exactly like a regular motor vehicle accident. Luckily I only had road rash and a massive bruise on my stomach that was about the size of a basketball, bike was totaled which sucked because I just bought it but the girls insurance has been pretty good about getting me the check for a new bike and covering medical expenses.

Also the cops never looked at me other than to give me the accident report, I was being looked over by the paramedics. So this picture would make sense since the police are there to investigate the accident while the fire department would be looking at the injured guy.

[heaven05]

39. A lot of you sure

got distracted with the backup thing. what about the kid who was hurt and the shameful responses to him by everyone including the EMT person vs the coddling of the driver who admitted wrongdoing in hitting the kid? More and more amerikkka is proving what it is.............

[Glassunion]

42. Im sure that charges will be filed.

Against the black man for fleeing the scene of an accident...

[yurbud]

56. He was lucky the cops didn't shoot him for vandalizing the sidewalk with his blood.

[hifiguy]

45. Wow. Just wow.

I hope that young guy is OK.

[yurbud]

55. That sounds like am onion piece

[BlancheSplanchnik]

57. .....

[indivisibleman]

60. Thank you for sharing this story.

I passed this on to my friends and relatives as another example of white privilege. The more they hear stories like this the more I think they will start to understand what is going on out there. So sorry to hear how this played out.
This informs me that when I see something like this it is a good idea to pull over and give a report as to what I saw and also step in front of any racism that starts to rear it's ugly head.
I once had a car accident where I was not at fault but people came by and started yelling at me for being wreckless. The person that backed out in front of me, causing the accident, came to my defense and shut those people down. I will never forget it. She was from New York and just tore into those sorry folks with her New York attitude. It was pretty cool.

[Cha]

63. JH, where did this insane action take place!?!

Thank you for this, gollygee. smh

[Liberal_in_LA]

65. kick

[happyslug]

68. Are you sure it is not automobile exception?

Last edited Tue Aug 26, 2014, 09:37 AM - Edit history (1)

I hate to say this, but the auto exception (and its related upper middle class exception) are alive and well.

Sorry I have seen both exceptions in situations like this one. People rend to be drivers not pedestrians and thus relate to the driver not the pedestrian. Thus they can put themselves in the place of the driver easier then that of the pedestrian. Thus one reason for care for the driver over the pedestrian.

Class is another factor. We see ourselves as middle class not poor. The poor walk. The middle class drive.

Last but not least, the driver is a woman and men often goes through the motion of protecting them, while leaving the man to take care of himself.

I bring this up for more then white privilege is kicking in. The identifying with drivers over pedestrians is the big one, but so is protecting women (and children) and identifying with someone of our own perceived class. All can be seen as disfavoring AFRICAN American males, and in some ways it is, but these factors are in every one and we have to make sure these are not kicking independent of racial prejudice.

[heaven05]

79. right

in this case, with the response of EMT to the injured party and police response to the woman who admitted running the red light, no, your 'explanation' just does not wash.

[ltheghost]

74. And people wonder

Why I don't like interacting with people on a daily basis. As a Black man it is so easy to be blamed for some crap that you have to literally be Ninja to avoid all the pitfalls.

For instance...

I see someone hurt on the street.... The right thing to do is to get help....But in reality, you call the police for help and leave the area ASAP. Why? Because the police may blame you for it and that can lead to all levels of skullduggery or even getting killed.

Someone hits your car and runs off

Forget about it because the police will ask..."How did you get this car"...which can lead to skullduggery or even getting killed.

Someone breaks into your house....

When you call the police to make a report, make sure to tell them you are a BLACK HOMEOWNER and even describe what you are wearing. Even this may not work and you end up face down with a gun to the back of your head in your own lawn...(This happened to me).

Getting pulled over for a speeding office...

Have your wallet, insurance, and driver's license already in the front window when the officer gets to car. Don't reach for ANYTHING, no fast movements, this could end with you getting tased or shot. (Had a gun pulled on me because I moved too fast...supposedly.)

So no, I do not believe for a second that the police are here to protect or serve me. Just from personal experience. I do not go out of my way to interact with or speak with police. If I see them behind me I go into panic mode and pull into a convenience store. Call me paranoid but it keeps me alive. I do the same thing for ANYONE I think has gun and is willing to use it.

Like my friends say...."Man, you must have Spider-senses" And I say..."Yes I do"...

[gollygee]

75. Thanks for sharing!

and welcome to DU!

I hope people read your post. You can see that some white people in this thread have said, basically, "are you sure that was because he was black?" I don't think any of us are really aware of how much easier life is for us because we're white, but some of us might not really even begin to get it. "There must be some other logical explanation." We're always looking for other logical explanations.

[marym625]

77. Sometimes I hate that I am white

What a disgusting, yet typical, reaction. I don't doubt it was worse because the criminal is a young white woman. Had she been fat and unattractive, though the bottom line would be the same, the "poor girl" stuff would have been "shit happens."

[heaven05]

78. after reading the post that was hidden

I think I understand why racism will never be stopped in this country. Missed the complete and total context of the OP. No clue, just misplaced and wrong indignation.

[riqster]

81. Christ on a trampoline.

Poor kid.

[redruddyred]

82. was she an attractive woman?

'cause they tend to be pretty good at getting away with shit esp when the cops are involved.

much sympathy for the poor black guy, but let's not demonize the driver too fast okay? no one means to get in a wreck and hurt someone. accidents are always mistakes.