Riley: See-something, say-something policies can't be tools for racism

Dear Starbucks:

It's not about the restrooms.

While I appreciate your plan to close more than 8,000 stores to train employees in how not to stereotype black people and your decision to open your restrooms to any passersby, here's the thing:

It's not about the restrooms.

A decision by one of your employees to call the police on two black men who were denied access to the restroom led to them being arrested for doing what people do in Starbucks every day: sit at a table.

The problem was not the restrooms. The problem was the phone call.

The problem was not just that phone call, but a mother calling police because two young Native American men who joined a college campus tour made her uncomfortable.

The problem was a white student calling police on a black student asleep on a couch in a common room of their dorm. That woman, a student, had fallen asleep while writing a paper. This happened at Yale. The reaction was so strong to my column calling for the arrest of people now using "see-something, say-something" policies to harass people of color, I decided to address it.

But that decision came after Desi and I went on our morning walk. I realized it was a little chilly. So I raised the hood on the Columbia jacket I purchased on the road to last year’s Mackinac Policy Conference.

And I immediately became self-aware.

I had eschewed fitted clothes this morning, choosing a pair of men’s’ blue sweatpants and white Nikes. I wondered: In a hoodie and black coat, do I look threatening?

My first thought was: No white people would give a second thought to raising the hoods on their jackets.

My second thought was: Some of the racists who sometimes write in the forum below my column would immediately take offense at my first thought.

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So, after our walk, I visited the forum below my column, for the first time in years, to assess the racist rants about my latest column, where I criticized people calling the police on people of color.

Not everyone who opined in the comments section was racist. Some were courageous saints who tried to take on the ignorance and vitriol. I love and appreciate those good souls for taking on those who revel in hate, call names because they think it's fun and don't care how they look to their kids, pastors and co-workers.

I only mention that forum - and that single visit - because this is important: Some of those folks who hate that I write about black people were trying to convince others of something false. They claimed that I oppose “see-something, say-something” policies that could help authorities identify potential criminals, avert a terrorist crisis or stop a school shooting.

That is a lie. And since that wasn’t what I wrote – as those who can read can ascertain that – their campaign will likely fail. But, just in case . . .

What I fear is “see-something, say-something” policies being used to mean “If you see somebody black or brown" call the police. It should be a crime to call the police because you are bothered by the unbearable lightness of someone being.

To suggest what police should have done, let’s look at what they did do to the two boys visiting Colorado State University: They took those boys out of line, demanded to see confirmation of their right to be on the tour and questioned them.

Nineteen-year-old Thomas Gray and his brother, Lloyd, had driven seven hours to take that tour at Colorado State University, according to the Associated Press.

Since the tour continued without them, those brothers had to drive the seven hours back home to New Mexico without seeing a campus I can't imagine them wanting to see again.

Here’s what the police could have done: Approach the tour guide to report receiving a complaint; confirm that everyone on the tour was supposed to be on the tour; question the person who called the police, which is standard when investigating a potential crime - and let the entire tour proceed.

Instead, the tour was allowed to continue without the two boys who made a woman nervous. So she got her way.

There are no right answers to what should happen every time someone calls the police: It is up to officers who are trained to assess situations and determine that. But there is a wrong answer: And that is to indulge the prejudices of people who aren’t really seeing anything, but are saying plenty.

As Detroit Police Chief James Craig told me, police officers should “not be agents for discriminatory treatment.”

“It’s one thing if we get a call, and somebody is disrupting business," he said. But "we’re not going to be agents for some employee of an organization who has another agenda.”

That should include college students reporting sleeping classmates or a mom who doesn't like how someone looks.

"See-something, say-something" cannot be used as a tool for prejudice. It is unfair, unfortunate and could lead to more discrimination than necessary to be safe.

For those on the Free Press forum, which I consider a hate site, I have three final questions about why you abhor my writing about black people and anything regarding race:

Why does it bother you to read about black people?

If you saw a black person in a hoodie, walking a dog along the Detroit River, would you be scared and call the cops?

And is that your problem or mine?

Contact Rochelle Riley at rriley99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @rochelleriley. Get information about signings for her book "The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery" at www.rochelleriley.com.