I'm sure by now everybody has heard about Ryan Moats, the NFL player denied being by his mother-in-law's side during her final minutes of life, by an overzealous Dallas cop. While this stories tragedy is not typical. It has all the earmarks of stories that can be told by a majority of African American Men including the affluent and elite among them. It's called DWB, Driving While Black! The act of being stopped, detained, and/or searched for unprovoked and unfounded reasons. In the case of Mr. Moats, the officer in question believed it was more important to give him a ticket after witnessing him run a red light, (with hazards blinking), to enter a hospital parking lot than escorting him to his dying mother-in-laws bedside. Anybody watching the video of the incident can see that something was terribly wrong but even after hearing the Moats' repeated explanations, (an explanation immediately confirmed by hospital staff), the officer, who had drawn his gun, still believed writing a ticket rather than allowing Mr. Moats to be with his family was most important. Think this is an isolated incident? Think again! So prevalent and pervasive is this act that everybody from Blockbuster Superstar Will Smith to the late and great "Legal Eagle" Johnny Cochran has experienced it. Rapper and Music Mogul Jay Z even wrote about it in his song 99 Problems. In it he says:
Son do you know what I'm stoppin you for?
"Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hats real low
or do I look like a mind reader sir I don't know?
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo?"
Well you was doin 55 in a 54!
License and registration and stop out of the car
Are you carryin a weapon? I know a lot of you are
"I ain't stepping out of sh*t all my papers legit"
well do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?
"Well my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back
And I know my rights so you gon need a warrant for that"
Aren't you sharp as a tack you should try out
For a lawyer and something somebody important or something
"I ain't pass the bar but I know a little bit
Enough that you won't illegally search my sh*t"
Well we see how smart you are when the canines come
"I got 99 problems but a b*tch ain't one!"
"While most DWB cases never reach the attention of mainstream America nor have the tragic consequences of this case, this is still a prime example of what happens every day to African Americans across America. While I commend the Dallas Police Department for recognizing that their officer made a very poor decision. I wonder what they, and other departments, will do to ensure that this does not happen again. It frightens me to think of how close Mr. Moats and his wife came to being shot by an officer who had absolutely NO reason to draw his weapon. I'm reminded of Shawn Bell and Amadou Diallo and a list of other young African American men who were stopped and subsequently killed by police for unfounded or unprovoked reasons. This Dallas cops callous actions denied Mr. Moats the comfort of being by his mother-in-laws' side when she took her last breath. However, had he not kept his composure, this incident, could have quite possibly turned as tragic as the Bell and Diallo cases. Police are sworn to serve and protect us. My only question is, if they are here to protect us against criminals, who's here to protect us against them?
~d-the-VIP
Jay Z: 99 Problems Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hsC6txiySQ
ABC News Interview with the Moats:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=207187&cl=12730195&ch=243724&src=sports
