BLOG #3- Week#4 What Did I Do, Why Are You Pulling Me Over?

Name and describe three beliefs or “characterizations” about young people that these authors discuss. What ideas about children/ youth/ adolescents shape these stereotypes and how are these stereotypes impacted by race/ class/ gender/ sexuality? Share a memory (recent or distant) when you experienced or witnessed prejudice as a young person.

As a younger person, I experienced prejudice in the form of being racially profiled.

I used to work in Bristol, Rhode Island for about a year. My shift ended at midnight and I was about 40 minutes away from home. Each night I would dread leaving work to go home. At least 1, sometimes 2 out of the 5 days each week I would get stopped by the police. Either my car fit the description of whatever incident they decided to make up, or I was speeding, or I rolled through the light or stop sign. When the police officer would come to the window and ask for my license he/she would see that I was a female and tell me that I'm all set. I would ask, why was I stopped, and I would get a bogus answer and drive off. This happened for the entire year that I worked in Bristol, maybe not weekly but for sure I got stopped more than I needed to. I received only 1 ticket for actually speeding, all the other times I was let go probably because I wasn't an African American male. I HATED Bristol police and couldn't wait to find a job closer to home where the racism wasn't so in your face.