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Race and Inequality

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Race and Inequality

Race and inequality have gone hand and hand in the United States since the U.S. was established. What this is still a major concern in today’s society and will continue because it is de jure. As an African American male I have experienced inequality because of my race first hand on multiple occasions. There are social stigmas that come with being a black man in America; some are that we are aggressive, ignorant, or associated with crime. In my case a few police officers assumed that I was all three and attempted to pin a crime on me that I did not commit. When I was seventeen years old I lived in San Diego California in a small town called Tierresanta. My home was in a military housing complex due to the fact that my dad was in the navy. One night I was standing on a corner of a street waiting for my dad to pick me up from a friends house when a police officer pulled up and asked what I was doing. I explained that I was just waiting to be picked up by my parent. Another police car pulled up next to him and asked where I was before this and began to bombard me with questions, I answered all questions calmly. As soon as I finished one officer looked at the other and said I looked like I fit the description for a kid who was selling drugs, and they began to get out of the car and reach for their handcuffs. I asked why I was being arrested for something I didn’t do and he told me I was being detained for further questioning and searching. As this is happening my dad pulls up and asked what the problem was, both officers stopped and tried to explain the situation and told my dad that it was a mistake and proceeded to get back into their cars and drive away. This is a textbook example of discrimination by the police officers. I was questioned and detained not based off of anything that I had done but based off of suspicion alone. This is not a

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