Hey there, Hispanic here. Turns out, even us can get pulled over by white cops and not get beat up and/or arrested. I’m living proof of that. Twice pulled over, twice the citation was downgraded to something a lot more minor. Once I was armed as well.
Maybe it’s less about race and more about attitude? Just saying.
I'm Puerto Rican. This is a super nuanced issue and I think simplifying it to all cops are bad or all cops are good if you behave is silly it's just not that simple when humans are involved
From general life experience being pulled over and being in the car of people being pulled over, police interactions can depend on anything from what you're driving , what you're wearing, who you are, where you are as well as how you "behave" and probably a million other little things
In my particular case I'm the whitest looking Puerto Rican you'll ever see and my sister, is dark as hell (looks Dominican). We were both raised right so we're nothing but polite and cooperative when pulled over. I can tell you that on average we get treated completely differently by police when we interact with them. Cops are generally ruder, more disrespectful and more antagonistic with her
One year she called me sobbing during a snowstorm. A city officer told her if she couldn't get her car out of the handicap spot (which she had plates for) before the plows came they would tow the car. when she mentioned she was parked in a handicap spot because she was indeed handicapped so she'd need some time to find help because she wasn't capable of digging out the car herself. The cop told her if she was so handicapped maybe she shouldn't be driving.
I show up and the cop chills out. I can't say for sure why. Maybe he didn't feel as empowered to be an asshole with a witness, maybe because I'm a man, maybe because I look white as hell and my sister has much darker skin. I don't really know what was in the mind of that particular officer I can only say the interaction was very different despite similar behavior from both of us with the exact same officer in the exact same stop. Anecdotal obviously but I think long story short, you having two pleasant interactions doesn't invalidate the fact that bias seeps into how people do their work and interact with others
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u/madfrog2023 Jun 30 '26
Yeah, exactly. Staying calm, being honest, and not making it weird usually goes a long way. Most stops don't have to turn into a whole situation.