Today, I was in a good mood until I went onto Twitter, and came across the latest notable incident of racism in America. Two Native American students from New Mexico drove to Colorado State University to take part in a tour, only to have some helicopter parent call the police on them because she felt like they weren’t part of the group.
First, the people who have a kneejerk reaction to defend the mom should listen to the 911 call.
Next, they should see the interaction with the police.
I have to give the police some respect in this incident. They were only responding to a call that they had to look into. The officers didn’t go on a power trip or end up arresting, beating or killing someone. In this day and age, that is a lot to be thankful for. Then again, maybe the teens would have ended up dead if it wasn’t for the presence of police body cams.
The blame here lies with the mom who made the call. When I saw the two teens I wondered if the mom possibly thought they were white. I was trying to be fair, maybe race didn’t play a part in this. She could just be some easily sketched out suburban mom. Lo and behold, she says the two “looked hispanic”. So, this may not be a case of anti-native racism (from her perspective) but I do believe the two prospective students were profiled.
Let’s look at the mom’s reasons for suspicion.
- Not part of the group
As the two teens explain in the police video, they arrived to the tour late. That was part of the reason for the mom’s suspicion. The next and dumbest reason is the dark clothing and weird symbols. The clothes look like typical metal band shirts, which I have seen plenty of white kids wearing. I honestly doubt the mom would be as sketched out by two blonde-haired, blue-eyed teens wearing the same thing.
So, let’s move on to the fact that they were “too quiet” and wouldn’t answer her questions or the questions of other people in the group.
Okay, as explained in the police video, one of the teens is shy. Hence being quiet and keeping one of his hands in his pocket. That is shyness 101. Moving on from that, why do they have to answer your questions? The 911 call gives the impression that this mom decided to interrogate these students because she felt they didn’t belong. In her words they “definitely” weren’t part of the tour. She instantly viewed them as intruders, and I’m sure their non-whiteness had to do with that.
I have been in situations where people decide to interrogate my presence in a building or restaurant, with the pretence of trying to have a conversation. There have been moments where I refused to engage because the person’s tone and body language made it clear they were uncomfortable and were just trying to make me uncomfortable as well. The mom is not a cop or an authority figure of any kind. These teens aren’t beholden to her. They have no obligation to basically present their papers. The mom tells the 911 operator that they said they were from Mexico. It seems like she missed the “new” in “New Mexico”. New Mexico’s in the US, last time I checked. So, here we have a paranoid mom (I bet my meagre savings she’s a Trump supporter) who is scared of two Mexicans joining her tour and decides to call police because they are too quiet for her liking. The fact that some other person in the tour also felt the same way (according to her) does not excuse the fact that this is an incident of profiling and racism at work.
Colorado State University has offered the family a free tour but that only scratches the surface. As this mom reads the news coverage she may feel like an idiot. After all, she thought the two definitely weren’t part of their tour. Is she going to face any real consequences though? Her name is still private, her face is not in the papers. Will she remain anonymous and get another chance to do something this prejudiced and stupid?
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