As an Asian American (Chinese Ancestry), I rarely have interactions with law enforcement, except that one school fight which I got arrested because I defended myself against a bully, which I still resent them for (both the law enforcement and school administration). This in a blue city btw. While the cops never physically done anything like torture or anything, getting held at the police station for a few hours felt like psychological torture. I was just wondering, would my experience have been worse if I were some other race? (I mean like: if I were black, would I have gotten beaten by the cops?)
And also, how (in general) are Asian Americans treated compared to other racial groups?
(Asking because, again, I rarely had any interactions with law enforcement, and am just curious)
My friend is Thai and she gets harassed by law enforcement all the time because racist fucks assume she’s Mexican. There was also a famous case a while back where an Indian American living in Texas was also targeted because some racist fucks thought they were Mexican.
Racism is awful in all forms and usually perpetrated by dumb as rocks assholes who are happy to target anyone who isn’t white.
Damn, they literally be like this:
💀
Always has been.
There is no rule that says racists have to be smart, logical, or consistent.
As an aside to this, I knew a girl when I was in school whose mother was Japanese and father was German.
She got hassled a LOT… because the police kept thinking she was too far from the reservation.
Yep.
Aboriginals/Native Americans get a lot of shit. It’s incredibly depressing.
I’m white and the only time I had interaction with police was when I had long hair. They would pull me out at the airport to search my bag, on every border by car or by boat, even when they let the rest of my family go. Even just driving my car they would stop me.
Once I cut off my hair it immediately stopped, and I haven’t been stopped since ever. This was about 15 years ago.
Lol wtf.
long hair = criminal?
That’s so bizzare
I make sure to trim my hair and beard before I go through airport security. If I’m at all my normal disheveled self they hassle me.
I Germany we even have a word for guys like that: “Langhaariger Bombenleger”.
Probably associated with being a stoner/pothead. That’s what’s been frequently shown in movies/TV, not my personal opinion. But I can see how people in positions of “authority” train on stereotypes like this.
Maybe they were looking for someone that looks like you with long hair.
No, it was going on for a couple of years and in different countries and so.
I’m white and the only time cops have been a dick to me was when I was with my Asian friend. It’s happened more than once. But the one time I was speeding by myself the police let me off on a warning and were rather nice about it. It’s anecdotal so take it with a grain of salt.
Just curious, what is your friend’s skin tone. I’m pretty sure the cops view someone from South Korea (lighter skin tone) differently from someone from like India (darker skin tone).
He was on the lighter side, from mainland China.
I don’t have a ton of anecdotal evidence to know for sure. There was one time I was riding with a friend who got pulled over for speeding while I was with her. She was Asian. She managed to talk herself out of a ticket in a town that is a notorious speed trap. Prior to that, the only time I’d ever seen or heard of someone not getting a ticket after being pulled over was the time my boyfriend got pulled in a Walgreen’s parking lot because he did not turn his lights on before he started moving the car out of a parking spot at night. So, the friend talking herself out of the speeding ticket was kind of impressive at the time. Granted, I’m not sure if her race contributed to it or not. She was a pretty woman and even if it’s cliche, I’m pretty sure it makes things a little easier some times.
Me on the other hand, I’m not Asian. I’ve gotten tickets before for various things. But I digress.
