Source: Facebook
I took my car to the shop today, so I took my bike to get a ride in while they’re working it. First time riding the streets (and not a trail), so I decided to ride with my pistol.
During the ride, I had a bike problem & as I’m looking down at me pedals, I notice a Clayton County police officer pass me. I pull over to a church parking lot and I notice him turn into the church as well. (Just for a visual, I posted how I looked on my ride today)
With the climate of America today, I prayed it was a black cop. The cop gets out of his car and ask me if everything is alright. I told him what was going on. (I could have been one of those guy you see on the video saying rude / unnecessary stuff for no reason. You know… the ‘leave me alone, ‘I don’t need your help’, ‘I know my rights’ etc…. but i try to treat everyone the way I want to be treated. He sees the problem, and ask if he can try something. We both worked on my bike and one point, he actually let’s me use his baton to try to hit something back into place. After I couldn’t, he told me to hold the bike and he tried. I then think to myself, his head is down and I’m technically standing over him, while holding my bike. He’s a trusting / righteous (white) cop. He sees me w/ a pistol & hasn’t said one word about it. I thought, this is really unexpected. He didn’t know I’m a college graduate (Morehouse College), a father of 2, a corporate America worker or a division 1 college basketball official, (i think) he just looked at me a human being in an interesting situation.
Anyway, we continue talking, about life, bikes, the climate of current state America, etc. He even complimented my pistol, asked me what kind it is… i told him, and he said he heard about that brand but he’s not familiar with them. I then ask if he wanted to see it, he said ‘sure’. I’m about to reach for my gun to show him, but I tell him, I’m not doing anything crazy and he kinda chuckles and basically says “no worries – you’re good”. I take my pistol out, make sure it’s pointed away from both of us, proceeded to take the magazine out, breech it and hand it over to him. (I know, this is an unusual situation/ encounter, at least for me it is). He asked how it fired, the recoil, etc and if I was familiar with Glocks. He said he would look into these, cuz he liked the grip. He never once asked me for my ID, if I was licensed to carry, why I had a gun on me or anything. His temperament was so cool / calm. I’m not even sure if he ever turned his camera on.
In America today as a black man, when you see a white cop approach you, you never know how it’s going to go and your thoughts race. You think…”here comes the b.s.” / “I just need to get home to my family”, etc.. With all the bad videos about white cops and black peoples interactions, it was truly a pleasure to have an amazingly great encounter with a white cop. (With that being said, my 5-7 min encounter doesn’t mean he’s a great guy, he’s not racist, he’s never had a complaint of misuse of force, etc… but i can say, if we had more cops like the one I met today during a 7 min interaction, the relationship between blacks and cops would be much better).
SHOUT OUT TO OFFICE ROE (I didn’t get his first name) of the Clayton County Police Department. When you’re off duty, I’d love to bump into you at a bar / restaurant so I could pick up your check. You’ve restored a lil faith in me by showing great cops still exist.
