My Experiences Living With The Color Of My Skin

The car that attracted police attention, apparently.

The year 2020 continues to be a difficult year for the world. Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of a black man by the name of George Floyd by the knee of a power-hungry white police officer continues to fuel worldwide protests calling for an end to police brutality and institutionalized racism within police forces. I initially did not want to talk about the protests as I felt like there are better people that can talk about this. However, I have a platform where I can talk about my experiences living as a person of color, stemming from my black and Indian background. As I continue to see videos of the protests and the heavy-handed response from the US government, I realized that it is important for me to speak out about my experiences living as a person of color and to talk about how different life is for myself compared to a white person.

The realization that I was a 'different' person that will experience additional hardships (compared to a white person) came to me when I was going to university. I lived in a basement apartment in a neighborhood where the demographics heavily favored older white people. Along with this, I would regularly go to university parties where I would be the only person of color in the place. Although most of my white university friends were nice to me, I felt a sense of uneasiness living in a neighborhood where I felt like neighbors were watching my every move. I remember an incident where I went back to my apartment after a day at the university. I got out of my car, and I saw a cat rolling around in the grass. I thought it looked cute, so I decided to take a picture of the cat. I thought nothing of it, and went to the back of the house to my door to go inside. About 5 minutes later, I get a knock on the door. I answer the door, and an older white woman that lived across the street, asking what I was doing with my phone out, confronts me. After a minute of explaining that I was taking a picture of a cat and not doing anything nefarious, she backed off and left the property. If a white person were to take the same actions as myself, would they get an angry woman knocking on their door asking them what they did? I do not believe that would happen.

It is one thing to feel uneasy around many old white people, but it is another thing to watch out for the police. I know that as a person of color, police officers are more likely to stop people like me, rather than a white person. At the time when I left university, I drove a black Nissan Maxima with black rims, which people would describe as a vehicle that would attract police attention. I also dressed mostly in black clothes, which only increased police suspicion. I remember an afternoon where I was driving home after getting some food at a restaurant, when I was pulled over by a police officer who claimed I was speeding. I was going 65km/h at most on a 60km/h road, but I knew the true reason why he was pulling me over. I was being subject to the practice of carding. The police policy of ‘carding’ is when police officers stop someone (usually for little reason) for questioning and documenting a person's information in a database in order to predict future instances of crime. The policy of carding disproportionately targets blacks and other minorities over white people. I believe the police officer that stopped me felt like I was an individual that will be involved in a future crime. It is sad even thinking about this incident.

Even now, I am still occasionally subject to chatter towards me that is racial in nature, whether I am serving electors working in elections, or even in my normal job in the workplace. Imagine an older white man telling a younger person of color (myself) that I "need to be put in my place" after a discussion. These are all some examples of discrimination I have faced due to the color of my skin. I have more examples, but you already get the picture.

Therefore, these are some highlights of living as a person of color, but I want to talk more about the larger picture of black people (and other minorities) and the larger community, including police institutions. Police institutions are rooted in the mistreatment of black people and other minorities, coming from the times of slavery. Police institutions are rooted in keeping the white man in power, and contribute to the viewing of black people and other minorities as 'lesser' than their white counterparts. This institutional rot fuels racism in the USA and in Canada. In this case, the direction from the US government (and particularly from US President Donald Trump) also fuels the rise of racist incidents toward black people and other minorities. On that similar vein, I do not appreciate the viewing of racism as a political issue (though I will point out that all of the racism seems to come from one end of the political spectrum). Racism is a human issue that affects everyone.

I hope that as time goes on, the racist mindsets die off and we as a society can move towards true equality for all. I also hope that the protests that are happening across the world can accelerate the process of moving towards a true equal society. I do not have the answers on how we can combat the issues at hand, as I feel there are people who are better able to address those issues. I will say that if you want to help contribute to a better and equal society, education is your best answer. Lend an ear to someone who faces racism and the hardships that go along with it on a regular basis. Research and donate to organizations that continue to fight for social justice. Continue to speak out against police brutality and keep the momentum and pressure up in order to keep the issue on everyone's minds. These are just some of the ways you can help.

Again, I did not want to talk about this, but I understand that as a person of color, I cannot stay silent.

Black lives matter. Fuck racists.

Thank you for reading.