Racial habits operate even against a Brown student in a park doing homework

Evidence

In his freshman year at Brown University, my son, Langston, experienced what it means to be black and in the “wrong” place. His urban-studies professor assigned his group the task of observing one of the richest neighborhoods in Providence. Langston couldn’t make the initial trip with his classmates to the neighborhood, so the next day, he went with his girlfriend to complete the assignment. They strolled into a park around 6:30 p.m. and sat down on a nearby bench. He pulled out his notebook and began writing down his observations. A bit later, a Providence police cruiser slowly drove by. The officers stared at him. The police car abruptly made a U-turn, turned on its blue lights, and drove onto the sidewalk, blocking any possible exit. An officer got out of the car. He shined a light into my son’s face, then at his feet, and then near the shrubs and bushes. Never saying a word. Never acknowledging my son’s existence. Langston finally asked, “Officer, can I help you?” The cop responded, “Who are you? Where are you from? And why are you here?” My son told him he was a Brown student and that he was completing a class assignment. The officer told him that the park closes at 9 p.m. Langston said, “I know, but it is only 7 p.m.” The officer repeated, this time more forcefully, “The park closes at 9 p.m.” At this point, his partner came around the car with his hand on his gun or Taser. My son put his hands up and said, “We don’t want any trouble. We’re leaving now.” — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 223

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The escalating officer interrogation with no true infraction is a ready-made scene of how the racial habit plays out on ordinary people; useful narrative beat.
• XREF: connects to: Mississippi’s legislature acted to guarantee churches could stay segregated after Brown — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 127; Only congressional intervention, not Brown alone, desegregated Southern schools