How Close Was I To Suffering The Same Fate On Sunday?

One of his children he was murdered in front of by a Kenosha Police Officer...Rest In Power Jacob Blake

The temperature was perfect, the tides of Lake Michigan were therapeutic and the time I was spending with my daughter was heart warming as ever. The best part of the day came when my (not so) little girl told me I was a good father. A compliment that would make any man's chest swell, let alone a man like myself, who had to fight just to be in my daughter (Gabrielle's) life. We rode paddle boats in the shape of a swan and ate ice cream in the grass and joked under the summer sun. Pure bliss, a utopia, that I never could understand how people fortunate enough to have children would not want to experience, including my own father.

Yet it all came to a screeching halt when I went to check out a bike to rent. I offered my debit card for payment only to be told there wasn't a charge and that all I needed was a picture i.d. Now mind you, I 'd lost my driver's license days ago and I didn't have any other form of identification with me. I offered my cell phone/debit card for collateral but he began to explain about the amount of theft that took place before they instituted this policy. I was beyond infuriated because not only have I never heard of anybody stealing free rental bikes but his tone was too accusatory and dismissive.

Our conversation became a little more heated after I asked my daughter to wait for me in an area that was just beyond where the bike was parked. I was aware that I was being baited. And two other male employees rose from their seats and walked over to stand on both sides of their co-worker. He reiterated there was nothing that could be done and he would be forced to call the police if I didn't leave his tent. Now I know there will be a countless number of individuals that will read this article and feel as if I was acting in a manner that would suggest that the rules don't apply to me. However I ask that before there is a rush to judgement please consider that as a Black and Latino man I have encountered numerous situations where there are two sets of rules.

There are the rules I have to abide by and the rules white America (in particular white men) have the luxury to follow. And my experience is not unique in comparison to what other members of the BIPOC community deal with. The illusion of equality: the disrespect, the discrimination that is thrust into your face, only to be met with skepticism and criticism when you try to identify it to white America. You are made to feel as if you are overreacting or being too sensitive or requesting special treatment. Admittedly, my assessment of the ordeal with the bike checkout hut is subjective and one based on a gut feeling. I don't have any empirical data to support my feelings in relation to this one incident.

But wait...there is a lot of data to support my theory that if I'd been a white man with his daughter offering to leave behind his cell phone or debit card for collateral there would've been an entirely different outcome. If you are wondering what that data is simply examine the history of this country and the current state of systemic racism. Even in times where the collective conciousness of this country has been elevated, leading to mass demonstration and symbols of white supremacy being tore down and replaced with street signs and many forms of art supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, there are still Black people and BIPOC members being killed.

Jacob Blake is the latest tragedy, he was shot seven times by a member of the Kenosha police department about two hours after my encounter with employees at the free bike rental hut on Lake Michigan. Did I overreact? Perhaps. However, is it also reasonable to believe that this guy's unconscious bias against Black men (who have long been associated with hyperaggression, anger and violence) rose to the surface? Absolutely.

Yes, rules are rules, but I have never heard of any chronic theft being perpetrated in the area. And if the guy's boss would have showed up and noticed I'd left behind other items for a rental I was sure to return for, would he have had a problem? I say the odds would be in my favor. Now would his boss have a problem with a white man in the same position? I am of the belief that the chance of the answer being no will skyrocket.