DWB

Missouri is a very racially polarized state. I have lived in St. Louis for most of my life and racism has become apart of my everyday life. I am not saying that every white person in Missouri is a racist but what I am saying is that there is white privilege given to Caucasians. For those of you that live outside of the Midwest you may think that Missouri is comprised of rural land, cows, farmers and a bunch of red necks and colored folks. Well you would be partly right….but not completely accurate. St. Louis is the gateway to the West and is very hip, urban, up and coming town. After spending a year in Los Angeles I love paying a mortgage of 699.45, which is less than half of the rent of my LA apartment! I love that I can fill up my car for less than 30.00 dollars and everything is less than 20 minutes away.

However, Missourians carry their race card in their back pockets. We have quite a few closet racist in our town. Although they won’t verbally admit to this heinous thought, their actions shows what they really feel.

For instance driving while black is very real in Missouri. Black drivers in the state are 67 percent more likely to be pulled over than white drivers. Blacks are the only racial group in Missouri pulled over by police at a rate higher than their percentage of population in the state. This information was found in a report on vehicle stops released by the attorney general’s office Monday. I have been back for less than two years and I have been pulled over 4 times! I was only guilty once out of those stops. It’s so bad that last month my cousin got pulled over in the driveway of his home.

It’s sickening to me that it is acceptable to do this to my people. Last week I took my little sister to court in a predominately white side of town (Des Peres), the median income for a family in this area is $96,433. The racial makeup of the city is 96.55% White, 0.79% African American, 0.19% Native American, 1.83% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.15% from other races, and 0.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race is 0.83% of the population.

In spite of the racial make up of the city 90% of the people in court were black. Yes a town that is comprised of 96.55% of White people have an overwhelming amount of blacks in court. Most of the black people were stopped by traffic cops and few were caught stealing from the mall. Basically they ignore all the White people stealing from the mall and driving with expired tags and focus primarily on black people. Of course they may be wondering why a black person would be in the neighborhood and randomly run the plates or assume that most blacks in the mall are stealing.

When the traffic report was placed online one of the white commenter’s wrote the following statement:
“Blacks are disproportionately stopped by police, but they also make up a disproportionate number of those living in a lower economic status. This comes into play when discussing traffic stops for non-moving violations like improper registration or equipment defects. Poorer people may neglect to get their vehicle properly registered or fix an equipment defect, because they may not be able to afford to or they have other ‘priorities.’ People who are responsible, and who have the means, will get their cars registered and fix problems.”

When he said “People who are responsible”………I take that to mean White people. I also feel that many of the cities count on black people to subsidize their budget through traffic stops. I can not tell you the countless times that I’ve heard friends and family comment on how police just ride behind them and run their plates hoping to see a warrant or something illegal about the vehicle. There is also an entire industry devoted to these traffic stops….traffic lawyers. The will make that speeding ticket become a parking ticket for the low low price of $65.00 , plus court fees in addition to the cost of ticket. Of course you don’t want your insurance rate to skyrocket and you don’t want to have points on your license so you go to the traffic lawyers and pay them to “take care” of your ticket.

Sometimes it can be very frustrating but I can’t get Al Sharpton to come down and hold a rally. But I am tired of singing we shall overcome