Situation Profiling

I used to live in Wilmington, NC. Wrightsville Beach was just a three-minute drive from my apartment, and I spent a lot of time enjoying the beach environment.

WB is more of a residential beach than something like Myrtle Beach –- there are very few businesses on WB other than some hotels, a few restaurants, and single beach supply store. At night, when the sun goes down, it’s a pretty quiet area. If I were to move to live on a beach, WB is where I’d go.

To support this quiet, small town atmosphere, the WB police are on the ball -– they’re attentive. This is a good thing for WB residents, though maybe not so good a thing for rowdy college kids wanting to party.

One night, when I was in my mid 20s, well into the dark hours, I couldn’t sleep. I got up from bed, put on shorts and a t-shirt, and went to my car. I drove out of the quiet apartment complex in Wilmington to just ride around a bit. Soon I was driving to Wrightsville Beach.

There was nothing to do at WB at 1:00 in the morning, so I just drove around with the windows down, listening to the sound of the wind and surf. Within a minute or so of my pulling onto the main drive along the length of the small island upon which WB sits (just over two short bridges), a police car got behind me.

At first I just thought we were both going the same direction, so I didn’t think anything of it. There were no other cars on the road at that hour, so it soon became pretty clear that the cop was following me. When I pulled into a short side road that went through a small neighborhood of beach houses, the cop car followed me.

I realized what was going on immediately. Here was a lone car, driving slowly down the empty streets, possibly casing the area for some nefarious purpose. I made sure not to break any road rules, but I began making my way back to the exit of WB.

As soon as I crossed the second bridge off the island, the cop car slowed down, made a u-turn and returned to his patrol.

Now, would this cop have followed me and watched me like that if I was a white guy driving on the beach road? Oh, wait, I am a white guy.

A couple years before the above situation, I was accused of shoplifting. But again, I’m a white guy.

I can’t help but wonder, if I were black, would I or someone claim these events occurred because the cops and/or the clerk were profiling me based on my race?

Bullgrit