During my time as a black male at Wash U, I have been stopped or harassed by the St. Louis Police Department, the Clayton Police Department, the University City Police Department, and the Washington University Police Department. I make a point to not run in the neighborhoods surrounding the university to usually wear a backpack and to look as docile as possible – in short, be a respectable negro – yet these efforts seem to be lost on the law enforcement officials that choose to interrupt my day. A younger me may have internalized this prejudice and worried about how I could attempt to acquiesce to society’s ideal image of a college student, but unfortunately, I will never be that.
As a young, black, male-bodied individual in America, I will always be looked at with suspicion by those who don’t care to know me. It is not my place to try to blend in to the norm, nor do I necessarily want to stand out. I want to be able to be me 100% of the time and not worry about my safety. Unfortunately, we do not live in that kind of a society.