The morning after a grand jury decided not to indict the NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner using an illegal chokehold, EBONY.com Senior Editor Jamilah Lemieux invited her Twitter followers to talk about their encounters with the police.
Hey Black folk, how have police treated you for being #alivewhileblack
The outpour of encounters came in immediately, and ranged widely, from criminal profiling...
@JamilahLemieux cuffed & made mey kneel on pavement in snow for an hour after they found me leaving a party w/ my GF #alivewhileblack
was working in retail & picked up a shift at another store. security guard profiled me over the walkie when i walked in #AliveWhileBlack
Pulled over w my mom. People think shes white, she was driving. Cops asked for my ID and license "for her protection" #AliveWhileBlack
Stopped b/c child "did not look like he shld be w/me"Asked to prove my light-skinned nephew was not being kidnapped #alivewhileblack
Cops were called the day I moved into my new apartment in the Castro, waited for my new roommate to get there #alivewhileblack
Dad goes into gas station. Pays for gas. Returns to car to pump gas. Police pull up and harrass him for loitering. #alivewhileblack
to threats of lethal force...
@JamilahLemieux Gun put to my head for refusing to get off of a recorded phone call with my insurance company. Agent cried #alivewhileblack
Age 15 walking 2 bus stop after school. Cop & his .357 asked where I came from. Hands up, I nodded to HS. Waited to b ID'd #Alivewhileblack
to frisking and other harassment...
Patted down on the hood of a cop car at 9 yrs old RT @JamilahLemieux:Hey Black folk, how have police treated you for being #alivewhileblack
Out for a run on a weekday morning. Stopped and frisked in nothing but shorts and a tee shirt. Ummmmm... #alivewhileblack
Walking to school at 12. Harassed by 2 cops every day for weeks. Complete with racial slurs #Alivewhileblack
and suspecting the validity of their own harm...
A car wrecked into mine-- face bleeding, concussed, the police and medial workers told me to stop crying and faking. #AliveWhileBlack
Cop stops me. Illegally searches the car. I call my wife. She arrives. He writes her a jaywalking ticket for "interferring" #AliveWhileBlack
Lemieux also shared her own personal experience with the police.
Got raped+robbed. Police took forever to interview me, mentioned that women sometimes lie to hide "gambling, overspending" #AliveWhileBlack