I listened to the 6minute 911 call a woman made to report 2 Native American students that she thought didn't belong. Knowing what the truth was, that they were 2 regular boys from New Mexico checking out a college tour, makes caller's words more important. safety.colostate.edu
Listen to how the woman describes her unease to the 911-dispatcher about the 2 Native American boys. She says "It's probably fine." "I've never done anything like this before." I'm sure I'm being paranoid." It's very banal...
The reason why I think people should actually *listen* to the 911 call this white woman makes on the 2 "suspicious" ( she thinks they are Latino and from Mexico) boys, is to hear the banality of racism. She's not raving, She sounds like most other white parents touring a college.
I'm reminded of the 911 calls the Starbucks manager made on the 2 black customers. The 911 call made about Tamir Rice. They are banal. It's white people just wanting things "checked out" by authorities. latimes.com/nation/nationn…
We're just about ready to have a discussion about white people calling 911 to have brown people checked out due to their suspicions. About how white people's fears *aren't* balanced with the idea of "what if they are wrong about their suspicions.
White people are *just* starting to wake up to the idea that calling 911 to report on their suspicions of brown people may not be harmless. That it's not as simple as "if they aren't doing anything wrong that'll all be easily cleared up. Most (myself included) wouldn't have known
Understand that even if *some* white people start to have hesitations about calling 911 to report "suspicious" activity, it will barely have an impact. The number who will think about the men in Starbucks, Tamir Rice, the boys on this college tour will be very small overall.
