Minorities have always had to deal with being profiled by police just for doing mundane things. A recent TikTok video proves that handing a piece of garbage out the window to your son could be misconstrued as something sinister. A cop in Pennsylvania pulled over a woman just because he thought she was making an illegal transaction with her son. Luckily, she wasn’t about to just let him get away with his brash stereotyping.
Ms. Bee (@mrs.bee01) said that she was “violated by a racist police officer out of Fairview Township.” The reason why? Her son left a piece of garbage (a coffee cup) inside her vehicle. When she pulled over to hand it out the window to him, the police officer pulled her over. He alleges that it looked like they were doing an “illegal transaction.” When she explained to him that she was handing off a coffee cup, he seemed incredulous at this idea. She immediately asks him, “You want to search?” to which he replies, “If you wanna let me search it.”
But Ms. Bee is tired of the way cops mistreat black people and she has to say something. She demands of him, “Do y’all think we did a transaction or something?” The cop tells her, “Yes. You pulled up. You handed something to him, and he walked back in the house. We’re not going to argue.” She reiterates to the clearly confused police officer that she dropped her son off at his house and swung back around to give him his coffee cup since she’s sick of him leaving his trash in her vehicle. It makes perfect sense from a mom’s perspective, but this officer just isn’t getting it.
The police officer hears her retell her story and then asks, “Do you have anything else in your vehicle?” She shouts back at him, “No!” Ms. Bee tries to explain to him that she’s a business owner and doesn’t have time for drugs. She tells him he’s being “derogatory” toward her, but he tries to defend himself. He says he doesn’t “care if she’s upset” and tells her that the whole hand-off looked suspicious to him. It’s quite anger-inducing. In the end, he tries to tell her he’s just “doing his job” and leaves it at that.
Even though there are inherent risks with talking back to an officer, this black woman shows how you handle a situation like this with grace. One commenter warned her, though,“We need to learn our rights and don’t speak or answer questions! He had no right to stop you sis. I would have called a lawyer right then and there.” Another person stated, “We have to stop allowing them to get under our skin.” He wanted her to heat up and to answer all his questions. Thankfully, it seemed to work out in her favor in the end.
