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by virtuabhi 3897 days ago
The most likely outcome:

-- Getting a response so nasty it's easier to get "you" into trouble "now"

I have tried this (I am from India). Any question to authority, whether police or TSA or Immigration officers will make sure that instead of ~30 mins, you will end up wasting 3-4 hours.

Of course, results might be different if you belong to the same race as officer. But that was the point of the article.
1 comments
CurtMonash 3896 days ago
Do you really mean "question", or do you mean "challenge"?

If it's "challenge", I understand your point. If it's "question", then even though I'm a white male who's unlikely to be adversely profiled, I'm still tempted to wonder whether you're doing it wrong.

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virtuabhi 3896 days ago
I meant "question".

I guess, it is difficult (not impossible) to empathize with what other people go through, when you are able to breeze through such interactions. Just to give an example, I (a male) can point out that women should present ideas in a better way when their ideas are trivially dismissed in meetings. But that would be brushing aside the sexism in workplace/society. Similarly, in this case we should look at the numbers, which overwhelmingly suggest that people of color (or a specific religion/region) are questioned much more frequently. I am sure that many of such people can speak with clarity and question with respect.

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CurtMonash 3896 days ago
But the police situation is fundamentally a lot simpler than the workplace one, because it is a single interaction. If you fear you are being lumped into a category by them that it is not good to belong to, you really have only two goals:

1. Avoid truly terrible outcomes (being shot, beaten, framed for a crime, etc.).

2. Get re-categorized.

There are many stories in the news of people of color failing to achieve these goals, even when they are pleasant and polite. But there are few stories of pleasant, polite interaction making their situations WORSE ... except that if your politeness is ignored, it can be dangerous to repeat yourself, because that can indeed be construed as a challenge.

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