Thread by @MalwareJake

A 🧵: This morning, I was in a @lyft when a car accelerated and made an aggressive last second lane change, cutting off my driver. My driver had to slam on the brakes and honked his horn. By the next light, it was obvious the dangerous driver was an off duty NYPD officer 1/

I know this because he changed lanes again and held back in his lane so he could be parallel to our car. The driver was an officer in uniform who was yelling and wildly gesticulating out the window at my driver. He was clearly pissed to say the least. 2/

My driver immediately moved his hands high on the wheel and faced forward. He wouldn't look over at the now screaming officer who looked like he might get out of the car at any second (it looked like he unbuckled his belt). Thankfully, the light changed and we drove away. 3/

As we drove away, I thought "damn, he's going to call that in, we're getting pulled over, and I'm going to miss my flight."

Ladies and gentlemen, that's white privilege talking. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized my driver's demeanor had completely changed. 4/

My African American driver was visibly shaken and was clearly nervous the rest of the trip.

For him, this wasn't a possibility of some off duty officer causing him a travel delay. He reacted like it was a potential life and death encounter. I'll be reflecting on this a LOT. 5/

Now I have no idea if the off duty officer cared about the color of the driver's skin. He might just have some road rage and would yell at anyone for honking at him, because how dare you not bow down to his authority! I *can* say for certain the officer drove dangerously. 6/

I'm happy everything worked out, but it was a huge glimpse into how conditioned the driver was to fearing encounters with law enforcement. It's impossible to witness something like this and not realize we have a huge problem with this in the US. /FIN

I should probably add that this isn't about some random NYPD officer driving erratically or acting like an entitled asshole. That's NOT the point.

The point is that my driver has been conditioned to fear every encounter with law enforcement. It shouldn't be that way.