George Floyd aftermath: Here's what to do if you're Black and stopped by police, says civil rights attorney
May 25, 2021 marked the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by police.
In the aftermath of worldwide protests against racism, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on charges of second-degree, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death last month.
But where does that leave parents of young Black boys and the families of Black men who remain fearful of being stopped or pulled over by the police?
Shareeduh Tate, George Floyd’s cousin and the mother of a 10-year-old boy, told Yahoo Finance she advises her son to “follow directions” if he’s stopped by police.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, attorney for Floyd’s family, says Black parents must give their children a different set of guidelines.
“Regrettably, we have to tell our children different instructions than our white brothers and sisters tell their children, where they expect the police to protect and serve them. We have a different reality,” said Crump. “When we have interactions with police in the Black community, oftentimes these encounters regrettably end up with some form of adverse action. Whether that is being arrested and taken to court to have them become part of the school-to-prison pipeline, because young Black people, especially Black men are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.”
Crump shared this set of advice for Black people who are stopped by police with Yahoo Finance :
If you are in your automobile and you’re pulled over by the police, especially if it’s at night time, turn on the light in the car, even before the police walk up to your car.
Put both your hands on the steering wheel at the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions so they can see both of them.
Tell everybody who’s in the car, if there are occupants in the car, to put their hands where the police can see them.
When police ask for your license, you verbalize and articulate what you’re doing as you get that license, and move slowly.
When police ask for insurance and registration, articulate what you’re doing as you get it from the glove compartment.
Crump urges caution throughout the police interaction. “If a Black person moves in a certain way, the police shoot first, ask questions later,” he said.
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