stupid laws in US
Remember when I said I love public libraries and how nobody bothers you? Well, not in America. A few days ago Steve was trying to convince me that if you are a good citizen and do nothing bad the U.S. is a nice place. Having seen from a distance the abuses by law enforcement and police brutality I was of course very skeptic.
Eric Drooker Police Dog
Up until now nothing serious happened, beside my buddy a. being pulled over by the police for no reason at all, and then instigated to react on a non-existent crime just to take him to jail. It went something like this:
Is there a problem?
No, there is no problem.
Do you have any drugs?
Of course not.
Shut up, let me search.
[... search ... find nothing ...]
You know I can bring you to jail.
What are the charges?
If we have got a problem I'll bring you to jail.
What problem?
So, you have a problem?
No, I don't.
OK, I'll let you go this time.
"This time" according to what? Beside, he should be the one complaining with the police, I wonder if they do the same with rich white CEOs, who probably do have drugs in their cars, instead of a Latino community organiser from a poor neighbourhood who does nothing bad.
Abuse of power is displayed at all levels, from the most violent to the most insignificantly stupid. So, back to the library. I've been here for a couple of hours, silent and quiet, minding my own business. There comes the library guard with a piece of paper.
The rules say you can't have the hood on.
I beg you pardon?
The hood. Take it off. No hood in the library. It's the rule.
I grab the piece of paper and take a good look. Rule #5 states that hoods may be a symbol of gangs, and may cover the face of the person.
But it's getting cold.
It's not my problem.
Can I see the rules again?
Here.
It also says to use good judgement of the "no hood rule".
To me this is good judgement. If you don't take it off you have to leave.
Can't you raise please the heat a bit?
It's not my problem.
Alright, that's it, I have no choice but to take it off and catch a cold. A winter hat is OK, a hood is not. Too bad I didn't take my hat, right? This is ridiculous, it's not like I'm covering my face. Plus, I hardly look like a member of some kind of gang. And even if I was, I'm quietly minding my own business in the library with my computer, what's the big deal? I guess the so called figures of authority are there just to piss innocent and harmless citizens off, and rarely go after those who deserve it. It's easier, right?
Comments
Uugghh!
Federico,
A comment about the cop pulling you over. I don't have all of the details, so I can't really comment other than I was with a friend once going through Lake Forrest just north of Chicago and we were pulled over in a similar way, but it was 2am and my friends car was a piece of junk. One other detail I didn't mention - Lake Forest is a very wealthy community.
Library:
First of all you will not catch a cold - we discussed this one already and I'm sure it was not 40 degrees in the building to lower your resistance.
Secondly - gangs are a big problem in some of our cities including mine. No one was trying to piss anyone off - quite the contrary, they were trying keep others from being pissed off by allowing you to wear your hood up. As unlikely as it may be, if an actual gang member were to see you with your hood up then he would want his up as well - then there could be trouble. Now, I understand that this is only theory, but I'm sure there is a reason for the rule as perhaps they did have trouble in the past and are only trying to stop any potential problems.
Yes a winter, knit cap is different. You can see your face and thus you look less threatening. Also, depending on what jacket you had one - either the white winter one I saw you with or your black & white sweatshirt type of one you could look like a gang member. The latter does resemble a similar type often seen by those in gangs. As well as your jeans that are not typical in appearance.
Just comply and you will be left alone. I know you are not the type to cause a scene or make trouble for a cause... wait a minute... you are the type. Never mind about that point.
Anyway, the guy was only following the rules set by someone else that may have encountered a problem in the past that you have absolutely no knowledge of as it wasn't presented on CNN in Italy on your computer. I'm sure as you know by now or will learn more as you stay here, this is not Italy. You have your problems and we have ours and only being here for a couple weeks there is no way you can have it all figured out already. I'm sure if and when I visit you in Italy I will find quite a bit about your country as being odd or strange or wrong and I think you know already that I would have plenty of my own solutions for the problems and I will certainly voice them.
Sorry, I got off track a bit.
In a small way I do agree with you, but probably would have taken my hood off right away as I walked in as I don't wear my hood on while indoors.
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