Glenn Dixon
Ft. Worth, TX
Those were the words that opened my eyes to the state of racism in America. At the time, I was sitting in the back seat of a police car next to another guy, both of us in handcuffs. The question came from a Fort Worth police officer who was curious, and possibly bored, and definitely racist. I wasn’t really sure of his motivation at first, so I explained my circumstances. I had been pulled over for expired license plate tags and taken into custody when my name came up as having an arrest warrant issued out of Williamson County for a hot check.
His response was “Oh, I was wondering, because you’re the wrong color!”
In case you haven’t figured it out, I was the only white guy in the car. The officers who arrested me had taken me to a nearby police van, a command center for this evening’s operations. They were doing a ‘sweep’ through Como, a traditionally African-American neighborhood. I guess they wanted to consolidate trips to the downtown jail. I was surprised by both the officer’s blatant racism and disregard for the other person in the car.
I have no idea how many people were arrested that night in Como. All I know is that I ate the worst pimiento cheese sandwich of my entire life in a holding cell that night, and that before sunrise I was out on bail.
