As an Asian American (Chinese Ancestry), I rarely have interactions with law enforcement, except that one school fight which I got arrested because I defended myself against a bully, which I still resent them for (both the law enforcement and school administration). This in a blue city btw. While the cops never physically done anything like torture or anything, getting held at the police station for a few hours felt like psychological torture. I was just wondering, would my experience have been worse if I were some other race? (I mean like: if I were black, would I have gotten beaten by the cops?)
And also, how (in general) are Asian Americans treated compared to other racial groups?
(Asking because, again, I rarely had any interactions with law enforcement, and am just curious)
My friend is Thai and she gets harassed by law enforcement all the time because racist fucks assume she’s Mexican. There was also a famous case a while back where an Indian American living in Texas was also targeted because some racist fucks thought they were Mexican.
Racism is awful in all forms and usually perpetrated by dumb as rocks assholes who are happy to target anyone who isn’t white.
Damn, they literally be like this:
💀
Always has been.
There is no rule that says racists have to be smart, logical, or consistent.
This is because racism is dumb, illogical, and inconsistent.
You don’t say! 😱
As an aside to this, I knew a girl when I was in school whose mother was Japanese and father was German.
She got hassled a LOT… because the police kept thinking she was too far from the reservation.
Yep.
Aboriginals/Native Americans get a lot of shit. It’s incredibly depressing.
Police harass minorities. If you live somewhere where you are not considered a minority, you’ll likely not have any issues at all. But if you travel to someplace where you are the minority or are obviously not normal looking, you should expect to be harassed by local law enforcement.
ACAB
Me and my roommate in college come from Southeast Asia. I’m of Chinese descent with lighter skin and he is darker skinned, more indicative of Southeast Asian natives ie Indonesia, Thailand, Phillipines.
We went to college in Texas. While he was out with a bunch of our fellow countrymen, they got stopped because the cops thought they were “behaving suspicious” while driving. But quite obviously it’s because they looked Mexican. While waiting for one cop to search the vehicle, my friend put his hands in his pockets, and the cops immediately had their hands on their pistol holsters. HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM.
This was before 9/11. We both moved back home and found work here. Being a damn good engineer, he was given a contract job in Texas for a couple years, in the 2010s. He was asked by his bosses if he wanted to stay on for good, but he turned it down. Without elaborating, he told me, THINGS HAD GOTTEN WORSE.
As for me? Nothing much, just was called a COMMIE and asked where my little red book was. I think now they would shoot me.
I’m of Chinese descent with lighter skin and he is darker skinned
So this meme below is accurate?
💀
When I went thru immigration, I made small talk about what my college’s Football team was up to that year. I HATED football. But my roomie was a fan and he always gave me a tl;dr I could recite in under a minute.
Holy hell I was always the fastest Asian guy thru foreign immigration at LAX.
I’m white and the only time I had interaction with police was when I had long hair. They would pull me out at the airport to search my bag, on every border by car or by boat, even when they let the rest of my family go. Even just driving my car they would stop me.
Once I cut off my hair it immediately stopped, and I haven’t been stopped since ever. This was about 15 years ago.
Lol wtf.
long hair = criminal?
That’s so bizzare
Probably associated with being a stoner/pothead. That’s what’s been frequently shown in movies/TV, not my personal opinion. But I can see how people in positions of “authority” train on stereotypes like this.
I make sure to trim my hair and beard before I go through airport security. If I’m at all my normal disheveled self they hassle me.
Like poorly trained dogs, they attack anything different.
I Germany we even have a word for guys like that: “Langhaariger Bombenleger”.
Maybe they were looking for someone that looks like you with long hair.
No, it was going on for a couple of years and in different countries and so.
I’m white and the only time cops have been a dick to me was when I was with my Asian friend. It’s happened more than once. But the one time I was speeding by myself the police let me off on a warning and were rather nice about it. It’s anecdotal so take it with a grain of salt.
Just curious, what is your friend’s skin tone. I’m pretty sure the cops view someone from South Korea (lighter skin tone) differently from someone from like India (darker skin tone).
He was on the lighter side, from mainland China.
My daughter in law is Burmese and she got hassled by an elderly hispanic man mistaking her for hispanic.
He caught her speaking English and went off on her about “How dare you not speak your own language!” etc. etc. and was very apologetic once he understood that, no, Burmese nationals do not speak Spanish.
I don’t have a ton of anecdotal evidence to know for sure. There was one time I was riding with a friend who got pulled over for speeding while I was with her. She was Asian. She managed to talk herself out of a ticket in a town that is a notorious speed trap. Prior to that, the only time I’d ever seen or heard of someone not getting a ticket after being pulled over was the time my boyfriend got pulled in a Walgreen’s parking lot because he did not turn his lights on before he started moving the car out of a parking spot at night. So, the friend talking herself out of the speeding ticket was kind of impressive at the time. Granted, I’m not sure if her race contributed to it or not. She was a pretty woman and even if it’s cliche, I’m pretty sure it makes things a little easier some times.
Me on the other hand, I’m not Asian. I’ve gotten tickets before for various things. But I digress.
She was a pretty woman and even if it’s cliche, I’m pretty sure it makes things a little easier some times.
Known fact, yes.
