https://www.latimes.com/sports/clip...d-death-clippers-rookie-amir-coffey-minnesota
This section of the article was what spoke to me the most:
The scene is still vivid in his memory: He was in high school, driving home with a friend after stopping for McDonald’s takeout, when he was pulled over. Seeing a white officer approach his window, he went through the mental checklist he’d been taught by his parents while growing up in a state whose percentage of Black residents is half the nationwide average.
Speak to law enforcement in a neutral tone. Make no sudden movements. Keep your hands visible.
“He came up to the car and got the license and registration,” Coffey said. “First thing he said was, ‘Where’s the marijuana?’ Me and my friend were like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘I know you guys have it, I can smell it coming out of the car.’”
The officer called for backup and three cars soon arrived, Coffey said. He and his friend were asked to leave the car as officers began a search. Coffey struggled to understand why the situation escalated so quickly.
“In reality, they were smelling the food or the McChickens,” he said. “It was just too much. It didn’t make any sense. It’s a crazy situation to know you did nothing wrong and you’re still getting treated like that.”
Coffey, 22, encountered racism before. But being pulled over marked the first time that Coffey understood firsthand how an otherwise routine interaction with law enforcement could spiral into something more tense and out of his control.
“There’s always a feeling like, that won’t happen to me,” he said. “Next thing you know you’re actually in that situation. It can happen to anybody.”
That feeling has been reinforced in recent weeks, as Coffey learned how Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, was fatally shot March 13 while sleeping after officers burst into her Louisville home; how Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, was killed Feb. 23 in Georgia after being confronted by two armed men while jogging; and that the officers in Minneapolis were responding to reports of a man using a counterfeit bill before their encounter with Floyd turned fatal.
“It feels like it’s an everlasting cycle,” Coffey said. “It happens and it gets swept under the rug and no consequences come and it repeats itself. Now that this is happening, people are coming together and fighting for this stuff. It’s important.
“At this point people believe that the route we’re taking is right and I’m going to stand with my people.”
This section of the article was what spoke to me the most:
The scene is still vivid in his memory: He was in high school, driving home with a friend after stopping for McDonald’s takeout, when he was pulled over. Seeing a white officer approach his window, he went through the mental checklist he’d been taught by his parents while growing up in a state whose percentage of Black residents is half the nationwide average.
Speak to law enforcement in a neutral tone. Make no sudden movements. Keep your hands visible.
“He came up to the car and got the license and registration,” Coffey said. “First thing he said was, ‘Where’s the marijuana?’ Me and my friend were like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘I know you guys have it, I can smell it coming out of the car.’”
The officer called for backup and three cars soon arrived, Coffey said. He and his friend were asked to leave the car as officers began a search. Coffey struggled to understand why the situation escalated so quickly.
“In reality, they were smelling the food or the McChickens,” he said. “It was just too much. It didn’t make any sense. It’s a crazy situation to know you did nothing wrong and you’re still getting treated like that.”
Coffey, 22, encountered racism before. But being pulled over marked the first time that Coffey understood firsthand how an otherwise routine interaction with law enforcement could spiral into something more tense and out of his control.
“There’s always a feeling like, that won’t happen to me,” he said. “Next thing you know you’re actually in that situation. It can happen to anybody.”
That feeling has been reinforced in recent weeks, as Coffey learned how Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, was fatally shot March 13 while sleeping after officers burst into her Louisville home; how Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, was killed Feb. 23 in Georgia after being confronted by two armed men while jogging; and that the officers in Minneapolis were responding to reports of a man using a counterfeit bill before their encounter with Floyd turned fatal.
“It feels like it’s an everlasting cycle,” Coffey said. “It happens and it gets swept under the rug and no consequences come and it repeats itself. Now that this is happening, people are coming together and fighting for this stuff. It’s important.
“At this point people believe that the route we’re taking is right and I’m going to stand with my people.”
