Driving While Black

Driving while black is a well known phrase within the black community. For those who aren’t in the know, the phrase was coined by black people and refers to when we are pulled over by the police for no apparent reason other than being black.

[pullquote]I’d like to submit to people of color a proven method of overcoming the driving while black mentality of any rogue cop. My method will work in any city, not only in America but in the World. [/pullquote]

Driving while black does exist. It’s not a figment of the imagination of a victimized group of people. As a black man, and as a Law Enforcement Officer, I’ve seen the driving while black phenomenon play out from both sides of the fence.

However, I’d like to submit to people of color a proven method of overcoming the driving while black mentality of any rogue cop. My method will work in any city, not only in America but in the World.

I’m not sharing with you something that I heard or something that I read. And I’m willing to use myself as a test case to give you first-hand knowledge that what I’m sharing works. Keep reading and you’ll learn how to never fall victim to the “driving while black” mentality ever again.

What Qualifies Me to Issue This Guarantee?

#1 – I’m black

#2 – Driving is what I do….period. And I’m good at it. When I got my drivers’ license at the age of 15 and a half, the only thing I wanted to do was drive. My parents would give me the car keys and I would drive. I called it “exploring” back then. I would burn through tank after tank of gas, just driving around with my friends or alone if my comrades got tired of exploring.

As an adult, over 90% of the jobs I’ve had have involved driving of some sort. I’ve attended some of the best driving academies in the state of California. I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles as a profession. I’ve driven 12 passenger vehicles. I’ve driven 91 passenger vehicles and every size in between.

I’ve driven school buses, tour buses, charter buses, SPAB buses, and jail buses. I’ve served on staff as a driving instructor on several jobs that I’ve held. I’ve transported athletes during the Olympic games.

In my personal life, I’ve driven cross country twice. I’ve driven for Lyft and Uber, logging well over 10,000 rides.

When my wife and I were engaged I lived in Central California while she lived in Southern California. I drove down to spend time with her every weekend for 1 year. That’s 255 miles round trip every weekend for 1 year.

I’ve driven through expensive neighborhoods and I’ve driven through the poorest neighborhoods. I’ve driven at all times of the day and night. I’ve driven on the West Coast, in the Midwest, in the South, and on the East Coast.

If anyone is qualified to give testimony about the perils of driving while black it would be me. And If there were such a thing as an “anointing to drive” I think I could lay claim to it, having 0 accidents in over 45 years of driving.

And yet, in all the driving I’ve done since Feb, 1976 I’ve only been stopped twice by police. And I would have to struggle to put a negative spin on either of my encounters with police. Read on….

Police encounter #1

I was “exploring” with my girlfriend back in 1979. I was 19 years old. We were in Carson, CA. It was about 9:30 PM. I was heading westbound on 223^rd just past Dolores St. when the light bar came on in my rearview mirror. I pulled to the side of the road. The deputy walked up to my driver’s side window and asked for my driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.

He also asked me and my girlfriend to exit the vehicle and sit on the curb behind the car. There were two deputies on scene.

I don’t remember any fear regarding this traffic stop. We hadn’t done anything wrong, so there was no need to fear. One deputy stayed with me and my girlfriend while the other did a thorough search of my car. After about 20-25 minutes we were allowed to leave. I asked the deputy why were stopped, and he told me that my car fit the description of a vehicle used in a robbery 5 minutes prior to the traffic stop.

What I remember most about this encounter with law enforcement is how professional these two deputies were. They really seemed like nice guys. They were sharp-looking, polite, thorough and professional. In fact, my encounter with these two deputies played a major role in me deciding to become a Deputy Sheriff years later.

Looking back on it now, I know that this stop was for training purposes. I didn’t know it at the time but the second deputy, the one who was searching my car was a trainee and the deputy who was actually conducting the stop was a training officer. The reason given for the stop was just a rouse that the unsuspecting driver has no way of disproving.

Police encounter #2

My second encounter with police was while I was driving for Lyft. I was driving through Rancho Palos Verdes Estates. I was surrounded by multi-million dollar homes. It was about 4:30 PM. I saw the cop sitting in his car, parked on the side of the road as I passed by, but didn’t think anything of it since I was not speeding.

After about a mile or so I saw his lights in my rearview mirror. I pulled over to the side of the road and lowered all 4 windows on my car so that the officer could see that I had a passenger in the back seat.

The officer exited his vehicle and began approaching my car. I turned around and stuck my head out the window to look at the approaching officer. When the officer got halfway between my vehicle and his, he looked at me in terror and began backpedaling to his car.

He yelled to me “I GOT YOU! MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER YOUR VEHICLE!” as he jumped back in his car. My passenger and I looked at one another, not quite sure what to make of the officers’ actions.

I was a retired Deputy Sheriff at the time of this incident, so I was almost certain that the officer had received a “hot call” or a call that required his immediate response. So before pulling away from the curb, I waited for the officer to dart around me with lights and siren blaring en route to his next call, but he never did. He just sat there in his car behind us as if in a daze. My passenger and I pulled away from the curb, scratching our heads over what had just happened.

Let me clarify. I have a strong suspicion as to why I was being stopped by this officer. For years I’ve had a lazy habit of buying my registration sticker but not putting the sticker on my license plate. There have been years when my sticker had been stashed in my glovebox for the whole year. I suspect that was the reason for this traffic stop. My car was registered, but the sticker was in my glovebox instead of on my license plate where it should have been. What I don’t understand is how the cop acted during the traffic stop.

The Neverending Story

I am probably the most optimistic person you’ll ever meet. I like to think that there isn’t a negative bone in my body. Which probably goes against the statement that I’m about to make here. That statement is: Driving While Black, or being looked at suspiciously for being black, will never end.

We as a society can (and will) enact laws to prevent racial profiling. We can create watch groups to monitor police tactics. We can defund policing agencies. We can do a myriad of things but we will never end racial bias. The reason racial bias will remain with us is because you cannot legislate matters of the heart.

Creating legislation to stop certain behaviors is like trying to treat cancer with a band-aid. Please understand, I believe that certain laws regarding racial bias are necessary. I also believe that certain laws and policies need to be changed. I am by no means trying to say that legal actions are fruitless.

Even as I write this post, history is being made on a daily basis by lawmakers. The death of George Floyd at the hands of a poor excuse for a cop has rocked the world to its core. I thank God for the changes that are being made.

I also thank God for all who have come before me who have sacrificed greatly for the freedoms I have today as a black man, but let’s face it, it’s 2020. And if I could change the backdrop and replace the wardrobe of the players involved you would think we’re still in the 50’s by the events that are taking place in the US today. it’s 2020 and two black men were found hanging from trees in southern California this week for example.

Real Talk

The only thing that can cause change is to change a man’s heart. And the only thing that can change a man’s heart is God. Try as we might, the matters of the heart may subside for a time. But don’t kid yourself into thinking that “We Have Overcome”. What lies dormant for a period of time will rear it’s ugly head again and again. It’s only a matter of time.

However, I as a Christian black man have discovered that I have something on my side that can overcome the driving while black mentality. What I’ve found in scripture has made me immune to anything the devil attempts to attack me with. Including driving while black.

Overcome or Eliminate?

I love flying. In fact, I can hardly wait until this pandemic is over so that my wife and I can begin planning our next journey. But that’s a blog post for another day….

Gravity is a law. It existed from day 1 and will always exist. In spite of the never-ending existence of gravity, man has discovered a way to overcome gravities’ existence through the Law of Lift.

Lift is the force that directly opposes the weight of an airplane and holds the airplane in the air. Lift is generated by every part of the airplane, but most of the lift on a normal airliner is generated by the wings. Lift is a mechanical aerodynamic force produced by the motion of the airplane through the air.

The Law of Gravity does not need to cease to exist in order for my wife and I to fly to Hawaii for vacation. We simply employ the Law of Lift and use it to overcome the Law of Gravity.

Likewise, God’s Word is law. Studying the Law’s and Principles of God’s Word and employing them in your life will produce results that supersede anything that is going on in the world around you.

Practical Application: Scriptures That Render Driving While Black of No Effect

Who wouldn’t want to be protected? There are so many scriptures that provide protection to God’s people that I would be writing for hours if I were to share them all with you. So I’ll just share scriptures that I meditate on in my daily life. Scriptures that have kept me and my family safe from driving while black since 1983.

Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them….

Wow, is any other scripture regarding protection even needed other than this one?

In scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun everything that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear. Websters 1828 Dictionary.

Psalm 34:7 is an all-inclusive scripture, meaning that you can count on being delivered from anything you need to be delivered from with this scripture.

Deuteronomy 28:9-11 – The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

I will never know what the officer in the second traffic stop illustrated above saw when he looked at me. I certainly don’t think I was doing anything that would cause him to be afraid of me. Yet, I’ll never forget the look of terror in his eyes. This scripture comes to mind whenever I think of that encounter.

Isaiah 54:17 – No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

And lastly, Proverbs 16:7 – When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Now, this last scripture raises a question. In order for God to make my enemies to be at peace with me, I’ve got to figure out how to please Him.

The answer can be found in Hebrews 11:6. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Most Christians don’t have a problem believing that God is (that God exists). It’s the last part of that verse that has tripped up the Body of Christ for years. We serve a God who loves to reward His children. It’s unfortunate that some of His children don’t know and/or believe that we serve and loving, giving God. It’s also unfortunate that those who don’t believe that we serve a loving, giving, rewarding God cannot please Him.

Meditating on and speaking these scriptures regarding the safety and wellbeing of myself and my household has made me exempt from the pitfalls of driving while black. I know that’s a bold statement, but one great thing about growing older is that the impact of what God has and is doing in my life becomes less and less deniable.

If I had written this post at age 20, it would have nowhere near the impact as writing it now at age 60. And even at age 60, some might credit luck as the reason why I have no driving while black experiences to share while so many people of color have suffered at the hands of racist cops.

Yes, indeed some may call it luck, but I choose to give God the glory. He has sustained me, protected me, provided for me, and exempted me on so many occasions that I lost count many years ago.

God’s Word Provides Protection For Your Children and For Your Children’s Children

And now God’s protection is passing down to my children. My son, who is black got his license in 2008. He’s been a licensed driver for 12 years as of this writing. So far his only encounter with law enforcement has been neglecting to come to a full stop in a mall parking lot.

During the traffic stop, he wasn’t questioned or harassed in any way. He wasn’t even asked to get out of the car. His encounter lasted all of 5 minutes and he was let off with a warning.

The same prayer/confession I’ve made continuously over myself since 1983, I make over all of my children. I know God as a faithful God and I know that driving while black will never be an issue in our lives.

Never Lose Sight of Who The Real Enemy Is

While we as people of color continue to fight for fair and just treatment in the world, we must never allow our attention to focus on the fruit instead of the root. The root of our problem where race is concerned (and where all of mankind’s problems are concerned) is spiritual, not physical. In this life we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

If we kill the root of the problems in our individual lives (poverty, racism, sickness, disease etc) by spiritual means we will find that as the scripture reveals, “we can be in the world, but we don’t have to be of the world”. In other words, even though we’ll never end the ills of this world, we can fly above the issues that plague those who don’t know Christ and are ignorant of the promises He has given to us in His Word.

The Only Caveat – Do You Believe it?

You will only see the power of God on display in your life to the degree that you’re willing to believe it. Fortunately for me, when I became a Christian I was naïve enough to simply believe the Word of God. I didn’t have a Theologian to help me misunderstand the Words of Christ. God doesn’t have any adults. We are God’s children. God’s Word is to be received as a child. When a child trusts an adult, he or she will simply believe anything they are told.

Faith comes by Hearing

We live in an age where information (and misinformation) is rampant. It’s incumbent upon us to filter what we incline our ears to. Are you inclined to spend hours on Facebook, CNN, MSNBC, and the like? Or are you determined to give your attention to God’s Word? Are you yielding your eyes to that which produces death or to the author of life (Proverbs 4:20).

Where would you be tomorrow, next week, next month or next year if you devoted as much time to the study of God’s Word as you spend on Facebook? Some of us would be spiritual giants! And when it comes to dealing with rogue cops who are out there doing unsavory things, an abundance of time spent on Facebook just doesn’t have the same effect as spending time in God’s Word regarding the protections afforded to you and to your household.

Life and death, blessing and curses have been placed at our feet (Deuteronomy 30:19). What’s it going to be in your life? I’ve chosen life where driving while black is concerned and as a result, driving while black has all but been eradicated from my life. If I were you, I’d choose life as well.