I try to keep my social media to just entertainment, with the exception of the occasional carpentry video. LOL. But doing so seems to ignore the elephant in the room. Especially after a few days away-- you need to hear from me! (After all, "Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor"). I know I'm just a little, white woman, so what do I know about racially motivated police misconduct? Well, EVEN I've seen with my little, white-privileged eyes: not one, but two instances in which the police abused their power with black men. While I don't believe in grouping "all police as pigs," they do looooove giving me jaywalking tickets, and my little pink car gets pulled over for EVERYTHING, including "driving while brushing my hair" (aka "distractedly"). So yah, I've been known to quote NWA a time or two. The first time this issue came to my personal attention, my buddies, Gladston Taylor and Marcus Folmar, who just happened to be black, came to a screening of film I was in. On the way home, they were pulled over for expired tags. Instead of the usual, ask-for-license-and-registration/slap-with-a-ticket-or-warning, they were both asked to step out of the car, to present their I.D... Marcus's SAG card fell out of his wallet, and that's when the cop antagonized him, "Ooooooo, you're an actor, huh? You been in anything?" But even more unnecessary was when they went on to search Gladston's car, and TOOK HIM INTO CUSTODY for... possession of a SPIRIT STICK! You see, Gladston was a football player with us at Northwestern University, so yah, he happened to have an old pom-pom still in his trunk. Which if you STABBED someone with it, I suppose might be considered a weapon? The point is, Gladston spent the night in the jail, humiliated to have to explain why he wasn't at work in the morning, with his car towed and impounded, which he had to pay for, and a visibly shaken Marcus was left alone on the street, with me to pick him up. That was the first time I thought, wow-- that wouldn't happen to me if my tags were expired. The second time I witnessed such racial disparity, I was living in the same building as Marcus and our friend, Gabriel Divine. Something was definitely happening in our hood-- helicopters were circling, police tape was blocking off our street-- so of course I wanted to check it out! I tried to convince them to join me. They laughed-- silly, white girl! Why would a couple black men willingly walk into that?! But Gabe agreed, put on a hoodie, and the two of us ventured out. While outside, a cop stopped us, detained Gabe, and of course, let me go. Supposedly, Gabe fit the description of the suspect, so I had to run back to get his I.D. in order for him to be released. I'll never forget, again, seeing my own friend visibly shaken, bent over the squad car, arms outstretched, awaiting my return. All because he agreed to walk with me; while black, wearing a hoodie. These things typically come in threes; but I hope not, after this week. Not all cops are bad-- but there's no question they need to go waaaay out of their way to be much, much better. I hope for justice for the families of the slain, and peace for us all. ALL lives can't matter till Black Lives Matter. #BlackLivesMatter