Thread by @JupiterReads

I finally reset my password so I can log in, and I AM FIRED UP, y’all. GET READY.

CW: Abuse, #PoliceViolence

THE NICEST FREAKIN’ FAMILY just moved in across the street 3 weeks ago. Single mom, four kids, 7 mths pregnant as a surrogate for her best friend, I’ll be calling her Mama cause she’s the cutest preggo lady I have ever seen, 5’1” and like 110 lbs.

Our neighborhood is...kinda rough. Poor people, lots of drugs, but more or less everyone leaves everyone else alone and gets along fine. This family moves in, I immediately go over to say hey, and turns out Mama and I get along GREAT. NICE people. Fab kids.

So like 1:30 this morning, I’m watching stupid YouTube videos on the couch when my dogs jerk awake out of sleep and start growling and barking sharply at the front window. I hushed them, but they kept whining and were agitated as hell—pretty unusual, so I look out the window

And see like flashlights moving through their house! And there’s yelling, like yelling I can hear through the closed door, so this is either a home invasion or the cops. Go outside immediately, see a squad car, and sit my ass down on the curb to watch and intervene if needed.

DID I MENTION THIS FAMILY IS BLACK. Oh wait, hmmm. Yup. Black, tiny pregnant lady.

there’s two cops, both male, both white as corn-fed piglets, yelling and inside their house. One comes out and gets on the phone with someone, sees me watching, and boom, three minutes later both cops come out with two white ladies who are smiling and joking bout something.

I run over there, knock on the door, I hear crying, identity myself, and Mama’s 14 yo daughter lets me, shaking and looking around wildly, like this girl is scared to fucking death about what just happened. Lights are still off, she and Mama are sitting in the dark,

And Mama is on the phone with her sister crying. The daughter, T, starts talking so fast about what happened, and I’m getting snippets from her and from Mama talking to me and to her sister, and after a few minutes they’re able to breathe a little but GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.

Here’s what happened.

Mama moved her family to this neighborhood cause it was better than their last, looking for a safer life for her and her kids. Her 12 yo son’s father is abusive and stalks them, and has kidnapped or attempted to kidnap her son several times over the years.

They were able to evade him for the last two years and moving into this house with better neighbors and better support was supposed to be a celebration. But yesterday her son was at Walmart with his cousins, and this man was there, his “father,” who grabbed him

and forced him into his car, which is when Mama’s cousin called the cops and called her. Mama had to deal with the attempted kidnapping of her son at the hands of his abusive bio father last night in the fucking Walmart parking lot.

When she got there, the cops made her give them her new address. HER SON’S FATHER WAS STANDING THERE. So now he knows where she lives.

I REPEAT, THE POLICE ALLOWED HER ABUSER/STALKER AND HER SON’S KIDNAPPER TO OVERHEAR WHERE THEY NOW LIVE.

Her son was shaken up bad. Hasn’t seen this man in two years, last time was hurt by him, this time another attempted kidnapping. Asked to go back to his cousin’s place which she allowed cause he wanted to feel safe.

Which brings us to this home invasion by the police. DFS got a call around midnight stating that the 12 yo boy was being threatened by Mama that she was gonna stab him. They have three hours to respond and make sure kids are safe. They show up on Mama’s door and demand to see him

Cops are there too. Mama and her 14 yo, T, both wake up. Mama in nothing but a robe she’s holding closed around her. Allows DFS to come in but tells the cops they can wait outside, starts to close the door, and they kick it back open, WALK THEMSELVES INSIDE

Mama is already following the DFS worker, and these two white men each grab one of her arms, pull them behind her back, push her over onto the sofa, and cuff her, saying her attitude shows them she’s a danger being alone with the DFS worker.
😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬

LET’S REVIEW, KIDS.
1) Visibly pregnant, 5’1”, 110 lbs
2) Wearing a short bathrobe and trying to hold it closed
3) Woken around 2 am after only hours before dealing with the attempted kidnapping of her son
4) NO RECORD
5) NO DFS RECORD
6) Forced onto sofa face first

7) Both officers about 6’ tall, and white
8) Because they don’t like her attitude.

ATTITUDE

MOTHER FUCKING A T T I T U D E

Her daughter tried turning on lights, and they said no. She asked them to stop blinding her with their big, bad, compensating-for-micro-penis MagLites, and they told her they needed to see. She told them her mama didn’t need to be cuffed and they told her to mind her business.

Mama was yelling at them and crying cause her robe fell open, exposing her whole frontside to these men, saying, “You have no right, this is wrong, I’m naked, is this how you treat pregnant women?” And they told her she wasn’t *actually* naked cause the robe.

When they left, she asked for their names and badge numbers, and they got all nice and apologetic and “have a good night, ma’am,” and she slammed her door in their faces. Fucking RIGHT.

Now, some people might be like, “OHHHHHH, Secret Agent Latte, that’s SOP on a call when someone has a weapon! Or for a DFS emergency!”

MOTHERFUCKERS CAN SIT DOWN AND SHUT THEIR FUCKING MOUTHS.

I *know* SOP. And it’s not *standard*

I have worked in adolescent behavioral health. Residential case management. Adult psychiatric. When I switched careers from psych & social work to teaching, it was to work in low-income, high-need areas where it can just be safely assumed that at least 70% of kids have trauma.

Even while teaching, I’ve taken part time jobs working with teens in foster care group homes, volunteering with homeless populations, etc etc. I have made so many hotline calls I might as well work for DFS at this point.

I’ve worked WITH DFS in the past, not just in this county, but throughout this state and neighboring states. I KNOW WHAT SOP IS ON AN EMERGENCY CALL, AND IT’S NOT THAT.

Just a couple weeks ago the coked-out white people down the street were on a rampage, one of the dudes walking up and down the street screaming obscenities and murder threats against his gf while carrying a long nylon tie down with a huge, rusty metal bracket on the end.

He was swinging this thing around and crashing into stuff, breaking glass with it, threatening his gf with it. I called the police. They showed. They....*talked* to him....just talked. He promised to not hurt anyone. They left.

THE DISPARITY IS STAGGERING.

And I am DONE, I AM FUCKING D O N E.

It wasn’t even nearly as bad as it could have been, sure. But it was still irredeemably fucked up for the police to treat her that way.

Hope they enjoyed their time on the block. Hope they feel reallllyyyyy proud of themselves.

This is why we need #BlackLivesMatter and for #whitepeople to be ACTUAL, non-performative allies for the BIPOC community, especially #BlackAmericans currently. Tensions are high, cops are totally mishandling the pushback, and we need to put ourselves on the line for #BlackLives

IT WAS NOT FUN SITTING SO CLOSE TO THIS AND WONDERING IF I WAS GONNA GET SHOUTED AT OR ARRESTED FOR INTERFERING. But who knows what coulda happened otherwise. This isn’t to make myself look cool—it was scary as fuck for me, and ridiculously traumatizing for them

WE CANNOT LET THIS GO.

I AM NOT LETTING THIS GO.
#AbolishThePolice #DefundThePolice

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