Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Week six of the course Perspectives on Diversity and Equity asked that we recall an incident when we experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression.

A few years ago I was in a major metropolitan city here in the U.S. on a speaking engagement. One of my dearest friends flew in to meet with us at the church. At the time he was a professor of economics at a well known university. He was having trouble with his vocal chords and could not speak. He taught by sign language through an interpreter. He carried documentation in his pocket of this and wears a medical bracelet. He is a handsome 6 foot 1, black, bald headed man and was probably 250 lbs then. He rented a car from the airport and was driving where we were waiting. However, he was pulled over by the police and they were trying to question him. When he didn't (couldn't) respond they pulled him out of the car, handcuffed him, and searched the car. His means of communication was handcuffed and when he wouldn't talk to the police they arrested him.

A black, bald, tall man (the description) had stolen a car. While we wondered where our friend was, he sat in jail from Friday afternoon til Monday in order to tell the judge who he was because the arresting nor booking officers didn't care to look at his bracelet, nor papers to figure out what the problem was.    

When we found out late Monday night what happened we were shocked and angry. Of course he sued the city and won the case. However, a long time of bias and prejudice was shown by every officer in this event. This was not the first nor last time that mistaken identity has caused him to be questioned by police. This was an injustice done to an affluential, academic man.  In order for these kinds of events to change, the dominate culture and other cultures must change the attitudes that all people in a group look, act, and think the same.