Racial Profiling

I wrote this a few years back and wanted to post it again at this present time.

Racial profiling does exist and it is impossible to get away from it.

I am going to share a personal experience from an opposite position.

Some years back I was training to manage a Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken restaurant. The Popeye’s that I was training at was located in a predominately Afro-American neighborhood. The store owner, manager and every employee in the restaurant was black. By the way, I am not.

During my time of training I was accepted as the white guy. I was a misfit in the operation but tolerated by those I was learning from.

Some, not all of the customers, who were predominately Afro-American, were not as accepting and pleasant toward the white guy. There were rude comments, slang terms and some very surprised looks cast toward the white guy.

The store manager had talked with me prior to my training and explained to me that this type of treatment was to be expected because the customers were not accustom to dealing with whites in this area.

The manager also expressed his concern about me being in the area after dark. He said he would try to get me out of the store and on the road before some of the nightly activity that occurred in the neighborhood began to take place.

None of what I have explained here was any problem for me and I never took any of it as a personal attack. Why I have told this to you is to set the stage for the Friday morning when I learned one of the greatest life lessons I have ever been able to experience.

I came to the restaurant prior to its opening to the public this Friday morning. As I entered the door behind the customer counter I stopped to chat with one of the employees I had become acquainted with during my time of training. He was loading the cash drawers preparing for the days business.

We were both unaware of the fact that he had accidentally set off the silent alarm and the police were notified that there was a potential problem at the restaurant.

Let’s set the stage. Black neighborhood, all black employees, potential robbery taking place at the restaurant, black police officer, hand on gun, hurries through the door, white guy, with coat on, standing next to the black guy in Popeye’s uniform handling the cash drawer.

What if you had to make a split second decision based upon the information at hand?

I have never been so thankful for a manager, who quickly became aware of what was happening. He jumped over the back counter and yelled at the officer “he works here”.

I guarantee that my eyes were the size of oranges and I was never so white in all my life.

The police officer was doing his job. He came on the scene, assessed the situation, and I was the one thing that was totally out of place according to his quick assessment.

I have cherished this experience for many years because it taught me a great lesson about what it must be like to be the minority in the white community.

As difficult as it is to admit, I was different. I felt out of place. I must admit that I was uncomfortable. I believed we were all just people doing what people do to get along in this crazy world, but, when things went wrong I was the first suspect. I was just doing my job, learning from the best employees so I could train those who would later work for me. But that Friday morning will always stand in my mind as the day I learned skin color is visible, noticeable and can be used against you at any moment.

The police officer was not wrong in making his quick assessment. He had been trained to see what looks out of place and take action accordingly. I don’t hold a grudge. I didn’t feel any less comfortable after the incident than before it happened. I was just given a great gift of understanding that I will never forget.

I hope you think about racial profiling in a different way from now on.