I'm a white woman, but I fear the police more

[deafskeptic]

54. I've feared the cops for years and I'm a white woman but

there's more to the story than that. I'm also a deaf woman. Cops have been a problem in the Deaf community for years though not to the extent of cops in the African-American community.

Miscommunication with cops can be fatal for the Deaf and for those who can hear but have speech problems so I made sure I make everything crystal clear to the cops and I do my best to negotiate with them. I feel like my life is at stake with them!

I got a taste for what African-Americans go thru everyday when I lived at a apt complex with 50% whites 50% African-Americans in a mostly white West End neighborhood in Richmond VA. The place was crawling with cops and for weeks I had problems with cops due to a broken tail light. It was a while before it dawned on me that I had a broken electrical system instead of a broken tail light as I never could get the tail light fixed.

My distrust of cops got profound as a result of those days at my apt complex and trips to Hanover county. I had a job in Hanover County. I had a mild distrust of cops due to reports of police brutality towards the Deaf before I lived in that apt.

I never could see cops as helpful unlike my Dad. It was hard to keep my face straight when he told me to ask a cop for help if I needed them. I was 14 at the time and ten years before my problems with cops in my 20s. He struck me as naive.

Every time I got lost in Hanover County north of Richmond VA, I would get cops on my tail as the cops seemed to think it was against the law to get lost in Hanover. I avoid Hanover county like the plague as a result of cops after I quit my old job in Hanover. The last time I got picked by cops in Hanover was 4 years ago when I visited my ex-BF in Hanover.