Not too long ago, when my husband was out of town, just before I was heading to bed, our alarm system started insisting that there was an entry open. I assumed that I had not closed one of the doors properly, so I opened and re-closed and carefully locked the doors and the window on the ground floor. But the alarm still said that there was an open entry. The only one ingress left was the window in the basement, where I had not gone all that day. I felt kind of stupid, but I called the police. Two lovely gentlemen came out, checked the house for me, and assured me that the alarm was off its rocker and that I had absolutely done the right thing to call them in. I still am immensely grateful to them, but the whole time I was thinking, “I can make this call because I’m not Black or Brown. I can ask these men to make sure I’m safe because I’m an older white woman.” I don’t know that my local police have a bad record with people of color; I do know the department came out with a statement saying that they supported Black Lives Matter. But I wonder how the POC here feel about our police department. I suppose I should try to find out.
Someday, somehow there will be justice for her.
Not too long ago, when my husband was out of town, just before I was heading to bed, our alarm system started insisting that there was an entry open. I assumed that I had not closed one of the doors properly, so I opened and re-closed and carefully locked the doors and the window on the ground floor. But the alarm still said that there was an open entry. The only one ingress left was the window in the basement, where I had not gone all that day. I felt kind of stupid, but I called the police. Two lovely gentlemen came out, checked the house for me, and assured me that the alarm was off its rocker and that I had absolutely done the right thing to call them in. I still am immensely grateful to them, but the whole time I was thinking, “I can make this call because I’m not Black or Brown. I can ask these men to make sure I’m safe because I’m an older white woman.” I don’t know that my local police have a bad record with people of color; I do know the department came out with a statement saying that they supported Black Lives Matter. But I wonder how the POC here feel about our police department. I suppose I should try to find out.