I was racially profiled at Disney Springs. What to do if it happens to you.

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Since the internet’s full of opinions, I’ll give mine.
I think officers will ask seemingly odd questions to gauge your response. “Do you have any knives, guns, hand grenades?” He asked if the OP had a gun, in doing so he got his dog close enough to alert or not, since the dog didn’t alert he moved on.
My wife gets scrutinized all the time, mid 30s white woman, last time at Disney she and my father n law got wanded more than half the time. Me on the other hand they wave me past.
This!

BTW.. DH is picked for additional screening almost every time we enter the parks. It doesn’t matter if it’s two or twelve in our party. Maybe, it’s because he’s wearing sunglasses or not wearing sandals? Who knows? All sorts of small things can raise a flag.
 
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But w/concealed carry being legal, wouldn't they be "on edge" ALL the time? Sorry, I don't understand how being asked "are you carrying a weapon" by a LEO is anything approaching "scary", ESPECIALLY if you're not.
At the risk or getting political, I think they are. I believe concealed carry contributes to how LEOs interact with people. It must be very difficult for them to do their jobs where everyone and their dog can carry a weapon legally and use that weapon to hurt you. Every encounter has the possibility of being deadly for both sides.

With that being said, I think there is a difference between a security officer/LEO realizing that everyone *may* have a weapon and actively believing that someone has a weapon. That is when things can go very wrong.

Would I think it would be "scary" for an officer to ask me if I was carrying a weapon? No. I already said that I would be incredulous. But ... I am a 50-something white woman who recognizes my privileged standing in society. However, I can understand that a POC or an international visitor may feel quite differently when asked the same question.
 
At the risk or getting political, I think they are. I believe concealed carry contributes to how LEOs interact with people. It must be very difficult for them to do their jobs where everyone and their dog can carry a weapon legally and use that weapon to hurt you. Every encounter has the possibility of being deadly for both sides.

With that being said, I think there is a difference between a security officer/LEO realizing that everyone *may* have a weapon and actively believing that someone has a weapon. That is when things can go very wrong.

Would I think it would be "scary" for an officer to ask me if I was carrying a weapon? No. I already said that I would be incredulous. But ... I am a 50-something white woman who recognizes my privileged standing in society. However, I can understand that a POC or an international visitor may feel quite differently when asked the same question.
I missed this entire privilege thing somehow. No indoor plumbing until I was a pre teen. I started working in McDonalds when 16 and continued working very hard my entire career. Is it possible to sue someone for back privileges?
 


So you have indoor plumbing now. Interesting. Of the 1.5 million people in the United States that lack a plumbed connection to drinking water or sewers, a grossly disproportionate number of them are either American Indian, Alaskan Native, Black Americans, or Hispanic.

Interesting reading: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2018.1530587
Sorry but I don’t live in the US now. Does your response suggest you don’t believe I am able to sue for back privileges? You do understand that 1.5 MM is about .4% of the US population?
 
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"He asked if I was carrying a gun, I said no. A small crowd noticed what was going on and someone took a picture. I was carrying a small backpack and offered it for inspection, but he said it wasn't necessary and walked away. "

This strikes me as odd. He went all the way over to ask if you were armed, presumably he had some reason to ask or saw something out of the ordinary and just took your word that you weren't carrying a gun? If a police officer is going to stick his neck out and investigate something of this nature, I feel like he'd go all the way or do nothing at all. Not walk up and ask if you have a gun, you say no, then he walks away. Doesn't seem to add up.

You could have been acting suspiciously and he wanted further contact with you to "feel" you out. You were pretty specific with your detail about him and the dog before he even went up to you. He could have been wondering why you were paying so much attention to them. Officers are trained to look for certain behaviors. My hubby is as innocent and honest as anyone that I have ever met, but he gets singled out for things like this because of his "look". He is a middle aged ginger but he is a big awkward, as best as I can describe him. I wouldn't want to disparage and officer so quickly when you don't really know why he came up to you. You wouldn't want to be blamed for something like that for doing your job.
 
No indoor plumbing until I was a pre teen. I started working in McDonalds when 16 and continued working very hard my entire career.

The privilege is that you did all that without also having to deal with being a POC in America.

I started working at McDonalds at 14. I still realize how much privilege I enjoy as a middle-class, middle-aged white woman.
 
The privilege is that you did all without having to deal with being a POC in America.

I started working at McDonalds at 14. I still realize how much privilege I enjoy as a middle-class, middle-aged white woman.
Privilege implies someone received something that wasn’t earned. No one ever gave me anything that wasn’t earned. I often worked 40 hours/week at McDonalds (until close often) during the school year in high school. I worked very hard for everything I ever had and hate when people cheapen my efforts by claimingI enjoyed a privilege. If you did fine but I didn’t. .
 
You could have been acting suspiciously and he wanted further contact with you to "feel" you out. You were pretty specific with your detail about him and the dog before he even went up to you. He could have been wondering why you were paying so much attention to them. Officers are trained to look for certain behaviors. My hubby is as innocent and honest as anyone that I have ever met, but he gets singled out for things like this because of his "look". He is a middle aged ginger but he is a big awkward, as best as I can describe him. I wouldn't want to disparage and officer so quickly when you don't really know why he came up to you. You wouldn't want to be blamed for something like that for doing your job.

Yes, I agree.

To me, the biggest issue:

If you're a middle-aged white dude who gets singled-out and wanded, or singled out and asked questions in today's society, then it was just your own bad luck, the officer was just doing his job, and you just need to deal with it.

But if your a minority who gets singled-out and has the exact same thing happen, then it MUST be racial profiling, right?
 
Privilege implies someone received something that wasn’t earned. No one ever gave me anything that wasn’t earned. I often worked 40 hours/week at McDonalds (until close often) during the school year in high school. I worked very hard for everything I ever had and hate when people cheapen my efforts by claimingI enjoyed a privilege. If you did fine but I didn’t. .

What did you do to earn the fact that amount of melanin in your skin passes for the amount that matches the dominant culture of where you lived???
 
I know, but asking if he's armed then just walking away? "Excuse me sir, are you carrying a gun? Nope. Ok, have a nice day." I don't think so.
Exactly. LEO daughter here, and I could not see an officer, a smart one at least, doing this. If my dad or brother did this, they would be put through extended training to correct that. This could get someone killed. There are a million tiny factors that officers and security guards have to think about. If the officer or guard said something that specifically signified he was racially profiling, then anyone would have a reason to be upset.
 
Privilege implies someone received something that wasn’t earned. No one ever gave me anything that wasn’t earned. I often worked 40 hours/week at McDonalds (until close often) during the school year in high school. I worked very hard for everything I ever had and hate when people cheapen my efforts by claimingI enjoyed a privilege. If you did fine but I didn’t. .
If that is you in your avatar, your privilege is being a white woman. Only those who are privileged can claim "I didn't have any privilege's" all while enjoying privilege by virtue of their skin color.
 
Exactly. LEO daughter here, and I could not see an officer, a smart one at least, doing this. If my dad or brother did this, they would be put through extended training to correct that. This could get someone killed. There are a million tiny factors that officers and security guards have to think about. If the officer or guard said something that specifically signified he was racially profiling, then anyone would have a reason to be upset.
I'm thinking the LEO relied on his K-9 partner's reaction, not the OP's response. JMO
 
If that is you in your avatar, your privilege is being a white woman. Only those who are privileged can claim "I didn't have any privilege's" all while enjoying privilege by virtue of their skin color.
That is my wife. I worked in equatorial Africa for some years so I really find these arguments about skin color and dominant culture racist. Did I enjoy my privileged skin color in equatorial Africa do you believe?
 

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