Comment on Brown Like Me: Voices from people of color in Leelanau County by Charles

Claude, Let me put this in perspective for you. The hate towards the police in this country right now has nothing to do with them giving out to many DUI’s or speeding tickets. It deals with the numerous occurrences of police brutality which have ended in the murder of American citizens recently. And large groups of people in this country are finally deciding that it has gone on for far too long. And the racial profiling in this country has more to do with the color of your skin than it does the way you sound. And I understand it’s just human nature to make assumptions based on appearance. But it’s what you do with those assumptions that shapes your interactions with people. ie. call the cops because you saw Dr.Ghaemi let his dog out in the backyard of the house next door. And you decided that he must of been out of place because of the color of his skin. If you were black Claude most people wouldn’t assume you’re a French National from Switzerland. I’m sure they would assume you’re an African American. And some people here would continue that train of thought and assume darker more racist prejudices against you.
Although Switzerland did partake in the African slave trade, (which most European empires did at the time) Switzerland’s agricultural economy was not built on that slave trade. Unfortunately here in the USA that was the case, and the dehumanization of the slaves has led us to where we are now with our institutional prejudices against black people. And for people of middle eastern decent in this country it’s unfortunate for them that a bunch of saudis orchestrated the 9/11 attacks which launched this country into a seemingly never ending war in their region. And war with a certain group of people always comes attached with a level of dehumanization and racism for people of similar ethnicities. I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t assume that every single person in this area is going to have the same interactions with law enforcement that you do. And try to see what life would be like from somebody else’s perspective in this country.