Some people believe that people of color face systemic racism every day. This is what a Michigan man believed as he decided to do a unique experiment. While at a City Commission Meeting in Grand Rapids, he revealed that he had been driving around for a year without valid plates. The shocking part was that he was never pulled over by the police. Not even once.
“I was never stopped or questioned once,” he said, explaining that he drove a lot that year. He was even used to passing through different police jurisdictions. “But please do keep telling us that there’s no racial or class bias in policing,” he addressed those at the meeting. He then claimed that, as a White man, he bets that if he started riding his bike around while holding a gun, no one would call the police on him.
The brave man then gave an example where he claimed that in the last couple of years, Grand Rapids PD had killed men at two out of three calls for “simply being Black and having a firearm.” He then continued talking about racism. To him, whenever he sees Black men being chased by police dogs, he is reminded of plantations of the old South. He agreed that there needs to be a drastic change in the dog policy in GRPD.
He even addressed Grand Rapids’ mayor, David LaGrand. “You are the one who promised to take on policing as an issue in your campaign and we shouldn’t be arresting people all the time for every little thing,” he told LaGrand. After talking to the mayor, the man left the podium because he didn’t want to hear whatever the response would be.
People Reacting to the Michigan White Man’s Experience
People were divided between those who agreed with the Michigan man and those who opposed him. One of those against him wrote, “This [expletive] don’t work unless he has black dudes doing the same thing. [Racial slur] driving around with expired or no plates for years. I gaurantee you if a black man thinks different from this white virtue signaling white Karen he gonna say this ‘You’re a traitor to your race’.” Another person said, “What about the Hundreds of Blacks that drove around Grand Rapids with no tags and never got pulled over??” Someone else wrote, “Do you guys ever think the racial bias is caused by police officers experiencing significantly more crime, resisted arrests, and assaults when dealing with blacks?”
Others agreed with the experiment the guy did and what he said about the police’s racial bias. “Respect for using his own privilege to highlight what many people of color have been saying for years,” one person wrote. Another person said, “Guarantee he struck some nerves. He’s absolutely right on the disparity in treatment and the turning of race based heads! We can’t move forward or have safe communities until everyone is treated equally under the laws.”
Someone else added, “This story highlights a serious problem in policing. The fact that someone could break the law for a year and never be stopped while countless others, often people of color, face frequent enforcement is a clear example of systemic bias. Accountability and fair treatment under the law shouldn’t depend on skin color.” That’s true.
