shopping while black (and wearing a mask)

[orleans]

the following are tweets from an illinois state legislator who was stopped after coming out of a store because, as the cop said, he looked like he was "up to something"

"I went to a store to purchase some items. I wore what I think many people would wear to the store on a Sun. (when there is no church): a hoodie, sweatpants & gym shoes. I also had on my facemask & gloves per the Order (I was dressed like many of the other shoppers I saw). 4/16

"When exiting the store I was approached by a uniformed officer who questioned the items in my cart. I explained to him I had just purchased them from the store he saw me walk out of. He asked to see my receipt, which was deep in my pocket. As I looked for it, he waited 5/16

"After 30 seconds or so, I found it and gave it to him. He barely glanced at it and then asked for my ID. I complied. He walked to his car and was in it for a couple of minutes and returned both the ID and my receipt. 6/16

(see link for the entire piece)
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1257339203127578625.html?refreshed=yes

[Buckeye_Democrat]

1. There's a Walmart near me with cops at the exit.

They ask for the receipt and look through the bags.

Actually, they didn't do it to me the first time and it embarrassed me. They stopped all the black customers and just waved for me to leave, unchecked. (They were both black cops, by the way.)

FYI, there's some "projects" not far from that store. I was often one of the few white people shopping there.

It happened to me the next couple times, though, and I decided to shop elsewhere thereafter.* (That was many weeks before the pandemic.)

* That's when I thought, "It's obviously a regular thing at this store now."

[milestogo]

7. They had Walmart employees asking for receipts where I shop

but they were only stopping shoppers with unbagged items. If you're trying not to use too many bags you could get stopped. They were checking to see if unbagged item were paid for.

Now that Covid-19 is the big issue they don't do it any more.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. I don't shop there anymore. They bank on people screwing up self-checkout and will arrest you.

.

While the assume checkout cashiers could be giving discounts to shoppers and if there is a discrepancy both the shopper and checkout attendant are questioned for criming. . .

Wal*Mart maintains a second revenue stream of shaking down self-checkout shoppers, accusing them of theft--knowing that there is a high probability of people fucking up, especially when it comes to produce.

They force people to use self-checkout by making the checkout lines long.

.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. It seems like there's cheaper alternatives...

... than hiring actual "off-duty" cops at that place.

That store didn't have cops at the exit for years, with pretty much the same customers as far as I could tell.

They indeed had fewer clerks working the check-outs when the cops started appearing, though.

[crickets]

2. "COVID will not break us. It will only reveal to us what is already broken."

When we will we finally, finally fix it? *sigh*

[stopdiggin]

3. was there any suggestion of reasonable cause?

this sounds like a real police officer (not just security), due to the vehicle and running the ID. And that would mean (to my mind) some articulable reason for a stop, and request for ID.

edit: Also have to question "proper use of resources" for uniformed LE to be examining sales receipts outside Walmart entrance/exits. Granted, I am not familiar with the area.)

[iluvtennis]

10. No, there was no reasonable cause - cop told him "you looked like you were up to something"

Kam Buckner@RepKamBuckner·May 4
When I asked why he approached me in the 1st place, his response was: "People are using the coronavirus to do bad things. I couldn't see your face, man. You looked like you were up to something." Which begs the question, what does someone who is up to something look like? 7/16

[stopdiggin]

11. and I've just never heard of stationing police cars outside Walmart entrances

to examine shopping carts as they leave. Very strange (IMO).

[orleans]

20. regarding the tweet i initially posted

the illinois state rep never said he was coming out of a walmart
he said: "i went to a store to purchase some items"

so, in reply to your post -- i have no idea if walmarts have off duty cops with cars near their stores, but apparently some stores do--or at least the one kam came out of.

[raging moderate]

12. He had that "uppity" look.

He was failing to live down to this officer's expectations of how an inferior being should behave when given the "privilege" of buying some items from a "white" store. He was walking too erectly, failing to cringe, bow, and scrape.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. That Cop Has Amazing Powers Of Observation!

He could tell someone was uppity, right though a mask that covers 50% of the face! I'm impressed!

[raging moderate]

21. Well, they ARE supermen, you know.

The TRUE Aryans, of course, know who they are, and that is why they want to take charge of everyone. And they can tell that they are superior to us lowly non-supremacists. We are just not "white" enough, that is our problem. And of course they can see right through a face mask when it comes to the really important matters.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. I'm Sure They're Deluded Enough

They probably believe exactly what you wrote!

[raging moderate]

23. Yes, Supermen with Superpowers!

Just like that old song sung by Spike Jones and the City Slickers:
"When the Fuhrer says we is the Master Race, then we heil (pthhh!) heil (pthhh!) right in the Fuhrer's face!"

[malaise]

6. Precisely

Institutional racism will have to be crushed like bugs

[BComplex]

4. And yet the very dangerous, automatic rifle carrying and very HOSTILE assholes in the state house

get a free pass. I ask you: which of these is more dangerous? This black congressman, or those assholes in the statehouse?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. The guys carrying the guns!

Last edited Wed May 6, 2020, 02:59 PM - Edit history (1)

If I ever see people like them around a store, I wouldn't even go inside.

Edit:
And I've only been mugged and assaulted once in my life (lucky that I wasn't killed by a blow to the back of my head). That happened after I walked out of a "redneck bar", which I had naively entered on a whim.
It actually turned out to be a blessing, though. I was regularly getting injections in my only remaining "good eye", for a rare condition that causes early-onset macular degeneration. After the blow to my head (when I lost consciousness), and a punch to that eye for "good measure" I suppose, I only needed one more shot to that eye for the retinal bleeding. Now there's scar tissue completely behind the retina that apparently prevents more choroidal neovascularization into the retina!
Even in just money-terms, it was a blessing. The shots were costing me about $300 a month, and the muggers just took a few hundred bucks out of my pocket. The ER visit was super-expensive, but that's been "made up" by the lack of new injections too.

[erronis]

13. Thanks for that possible "cure" for macular degeneration.... I'll pass.

Mine are going (72+). Mom's started somewhere around that point.

Getting walloped on the head and in the eye doesn't sound like a good medically reproducible solution, however.

Glad you're re-visionary!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

16. Oh, I know!

I was always warned about any blows to the head too, because of the greater risk of detached retinas.

And scar tissue is what usually needs to be avoided, but I was super lucky that it all formed behind the retina (near Bruch's membrane).

Scar tissue within the retina, the body's response to the leaking blood vessels (if anti-VEGF treatment doesn't happen right away), can prevent the RPE from removing metabolic waste. Then the photoreceptors basically "drown" in it.

My case was VERY unusual.

I still don't assume "it's all over" for me, like new problems can't happen, but I've been able to relax more than in the past.

Edit: The retinologist asked if he could share my case with other doctors, and I okay'd it of course. Maybe someone will invent another way to block those cracks (that allow blood vessels to grow through them, stimulated by VEGF from retina cells) from behind the retinas?

I almost forgot (before logging out for awhile)...


(I know it sucks.)

[Grokenstein]

15. Yikes. You really know how to look on the bright side!

Glad you came out on top of that. Wish you didn't have to go through what you did to get there.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

17. Thanks! nt

[TheFourthMind]

14. FTP (Film The Police). n/t

[safeinOhio]

18. Sometimes I buy nicotine lozenges

at the store. I buy it at the pharmacy part of the store and most of the time they forget to unscan the security thing on it. Sets off the alarm when I exit and the guard comes over. I throw up my hands and yell Don’t shoot, I’m not resisting and ask if if I need to walk toward the sound of his voice.

I get lots of laughs.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. I Think You'll Like This Story

25 years ago, my wife had a tight grip on the idea of having a red leather jacket.
I told her it was a bad idea. Of course, as soon as she said I thought "birthday gift"
Anyway, I get it at the leather store & I think I should get a nice matching scarf.
So I go to the boutique and I was I'm walking IN I set off the shoplift alarm! Lady knows I'm coming in and is as curious as me. She finds the security tag is still on the coat.
I buy the scarf & go back to first store to have tag removed. It DID NOT set off the alarm when I walked in.
I went through that thing twice, and nothing. It was at another store where it did.
The place where everything in there was $150 & up had a shoplift protection thing that didn't work!
Go figure!