dreadlock discrimination?

so the other day im driving along going to the beach to meet some friends. im wearing board shorts, a tee, and a tie-dyed bandana. i pass this cop and think in my head "oh crap my tail light is out". the cop is now behind me and im at a stop sign. as soon as i go i do and sure enough the cop flips on his lights to pull me over. i pull over to the side and he comes up to the car asking for my license and registration. he tells me my tail light is out and that i need to get it fixed. so he goes back to his car and quickly returns to my window side... only now hes back further and he asks me to get out of the car. whatever... i get out of the car and follow him to the back of the car. he proceeds to ask me if i am a smoker. i tell him no that i dont smoke at all and no one else drives the car or smokes in it. he tells me that my car "smells of MJ". haha he says "MJ". that was funny... anyway i keep telling him that i dont smoke marijuana and never have (thats the honest truth). he keeps pushing asking if im sure i dont "smoke anything funny" and that my car smells like it... he even threatens to bring a k9 unit over to sniff it. i get slightly agitated and tell him that ive had people ask me if i want any/have any because of how i look/my dreadlocks. he gets WAAAAAAY defensive and says thats not why he asks and then quickly states that QUOTE "his nose must be off today". LLAAMMEE!!! he lets me get back in my car and returns shortly after to give me my license back and says that he wont give me a ticket for the tail light because of the inconvenience hes already caused. he then gives me his name and badge number (which has never happened... im assuming he does this because he thinks i want to report him).




ANYWHO... thats my story. i think its stupid that anyone with dreads gets labeled as a dirty pot smoking hippie.

oh well i knew that the stereotypes would be there when i decided to go on the journey.

 

And they say profiling doesn't exist, ROFL! What a douchebag. :smilielol5:

 

the next day i was driving with my mom (she knew the story of course) and we passed that same cop with someone pulled over. she was like "no wonder he asked you to get out of the car... he has short man syndrome and needed to show his dominance by abusing his power".

now my mom is VERY conservative and never says anything mean (especially about cops) and it was HILLARIOUS!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, an undercover cop tried very very hard to search my car recently after he saw me walk into a gas station barefoot and dreaded to buy a cigar. I did have weed on me, but i knew the cop was bullshitting when he said he smelt it because it was in an airtight container and I hadn't even smoked recently. The fucker tried to trick me into consenting to a search, but I wasn't going for that.
Cops are just about the only thing that make me angry. Ugh.

 

haha, cops are ridiculous. i don't have any stories as good as that one (yet), but a couple weekends ago i went camping with my friend and i guess her mom sat her down and was like, "please make sure tara doesn't bring any marijuana to vermont." i mean come on, i backcombed a month ago - they're not even dreads yet, and suddenly i'm a pothead? people make me laugh

 

I just have long hair and that seems to set everyone off. People in suburbs act like they have been in a bubble for 80 years. We get a lot of train hoppers where I live. I work at Giant eagle and every time they are around I talk to them and have a cig. When the customers see them they look so scared or annoyed. I remember I went back in the store and told my friends working that there were some more travelers, and some woman was like yeah whats that about. I just laughed, because or her lack of experience and jut said they're living their lives. She just kind of laughed and rolled her eyes. I had some of them come over to my house to eat and shower and everyone who knew were so freaked out. The lesson here is to not fear people who are living a free life.

 

I've noticed that cops do tend to single out people with dreadlocks.

A couple weeks ago, I was riding the Greyhound and we made a layover stop in Sacramento, CA. As SOON as i stepped off the bus, a big security dude waves me over, says that he smells pot on me, and asks if I have anything on me. I'm like, "excuse me? I was just riding a bus for three hours and besides, you were about 15 feet away from me and would not be able to smell anything on me even if I DID have something."

They took me inside and searched my shit, found my glass pipe, and confinscated it. I know that they thought I looked like a stoner, so they figured I probably would have something on me. complete bullshit. I just gave them attitude the whole time because I knew it was BS and they had nothing on me.

 

oh and I'd like to add that people are intimidated by free persons. they are scared of what they don't understand, or jealous of people who have what they don't.

 

This is something I completely agree with. I told my extended family (cousins/aunt/uncle) about wanting dreads. Not even about definitely getting them. This was all speculation. The only reaction I got from them was the "dirty hippie burnout" stereotype. I'm not even close to that. I'm not even a bum! I have a job, I'm an Eagle Scout, and an honor student in college. I'm what mainstream, white collar, conservative, society would respect (at least I think so). The fact that I deviate slightly, in the eyes of my relatives (who are constantly keeping up with the Jones'), bothers them to the core.

Calling me a freak, and a bum, and a dirty pothead.
Who filled their glass with haterade?

 

I once had a cop tell me he liked my dreads and my stretched ear lobes. Perhaps he was being sarcastic but I didn't catch that vibe from him. Maybe it's cause I'm in Canada but I haven't had any bad reactions. The job I had before the one I have now was pretty corporate and I swear they gave me the job just to show they could hire "different" looking people.
I'm actually in the process of applying for a position with the Toronto Police and I'm not worried at all about my hair. Of course if I wanted to be a cop I probably couldn't do it with dreads.

 

wow that FUNNY here in asheville if u dont have dreads your such a loser even cops have em lol if u go dwn twn and dont have dreads ur the ones gettin talked about its very nice here and EVERYONE is freindly its really nice

 

I have always liked to do things that "urk" the more straight-edge people of society. Just little things that get under their skin, you know? just to see thier reaction, hehe.

 

I find many police officers to be on a power trip, but not all are corrupt. Though I think we'd be hard pressed to find a friendly, fair, and honest cop. Aside from the occasional insults, I don't get it too bad. I figure the amount of ridicule I get isn't much more than a non-dreaded person. Though I'm sure its worse in a less populated area where the community is probably less forgiving or accepting.

 

I'm going to be in ashville in a couple days. I'm gonna hit up mellow mushroom and then Indos.

 

Does polices really single people with dreads out? Because they "most likely" to have weed on them?

 

I wouldn't say more so than any other group.

 

it happened to me.....but it was security guards, not actual cops.

 

cops always profile me

they call it psychology

it's pathetic

I'm sick of everyone's stereotypical bullshit. It makes me want to cut my hair off. I even had a dream about that last night.

 

i dunno i had cops come up to me and give me weed they just confiscated from someone else..lol

 

LOL
Thats great.