Opinion

OP-ED: Avoiding Police Confrontations. What Can Be Done?

Published

11 years ago

March 25, 2015

By Richard Wembe Johnson, Folsom Prison

The recent upsurge of questionable police killings around the country has made it abundantly clear that something must be done to protect our youth and others. Separately these incidences may appear to be random, yet collectively they speak to a systematic pattern of selective killings targeting minorities.

People are dying needlessly, regardless of how someone tries to spin the truth. For the victims who are people of color there can be no justification for the rash of killings by law enforcement officers, who allegedly in the context of duty have killed or harmed unarmed persons.

Unfortunately the reality is that we can’t physically stop each and every incident where our youth are being slaughtered under the auspices of the “serve and protect” motto. Yet, what we can do, and must do, is to give advice, especially to our youth, by warning them that these killings can befall them also if they allow disagreements to escalate into a violent encounter.

Regardless of our status in life, no one is beyond the potential of possible loss of their life at the hands of a law enforcement officer, especially if they decide to exert extreme force. This advice should first begin at home by telling our loved ones that at all times they should be fully cognizant of the dangers of the loss of life in all dealings with members of the police force regardless of the circumstance. We should tell our families to never try to be confrontational with police. We should emphasize that they comply with their instructions even if the officer is blatantly hostile and/or is disrespectful or is trying to provoke you into acting out. Be cool and cooperative during your encounter with the police.

Keep in mind that most often you can be perfectly within your rights, yet in the eyes of the law it matters not, especially if you end up losing your life defending your rights at the moment.

Sometimes we must choose the time and place to confront wrong and not allow our emotions to propel us into predicaments in which the outcome will clearly be against us. I think the most important rule of thumb is for us to always work from the premise of not breaking the law.

Quite naturally, for example, if you are driving, and, if it’s the officer’s objective to stop and harass you, then it’s unavoidable, yet, it doesn’t mean that you should accommodate them by fueling their errant behavior which will elevate the situation. Again, we must utilize every avenue and opportunity to inform, as well as to stay informed about how we must conduct ourselves to avoid threatening impasses in contact with the police. Not all police are out to create havoc or entice violent encounters, yet there are some whose sole purpose is to do exactly that while hiding behind their badges, these types are few but they do exist and must be avoided at all cost, whenever possible.

Our churches, schools, and community gatherings are also places in which we must reach and teach each other in the ways of avoidance survival. If we neglect to advise our own, who will? The future is ours if we choose to act on avoidance survival tactics the “each one can teach one” words of survival, rather than to continue to be casualties.

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Advice

COMMENTARY: If You Don’t Want Your ‘Black Card’ Revoked, Watch What You Bring to Holiday Dinners

From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year’s Day, whether it’s the dining room table or the bid whist (Spades? Uno, anyone?) table, your card may be in danger.

Published

1 day ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

The ‘aunties’ playing cards. iStock photo by Andreswd.

By Wanda Ravernell
Post Staff

From the fourth week of November to the first week in January, if you are of African descent, but particularly African American, certain violations of cultural etiquette will get your ‘Black card’ revoked.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year’s Day, whether it’s the dining room table or the bid whist (Spades? Uno, anyone?) table, your card may be in danger.

It could take until Super Bowl Sunday for reinstatement.

I don’t know much about the card table, but for years I was on probation by the ‘Aunties,’ the givers and takers of Black cards.

How I Got into Trouble

It was 1970-something and I was influenced by the health food movement that emerged from the hippie era. A vegetarian (which was then considered sacrilegious by most Black people I knew) prepared me a simple meal: grated cheese over steamed broccoli, lentils, and brown rice.

I introduced the broccoli dish at the Friday night supper with my aunt and grandfather. She pronounced the bright green broccoli undone, but she ate it. (I did not, of course, try brown rice on them.)

I knew that I would be allowed back in the kitchen when she attempted the dish, but the broccoli had been cooked to death. (Y’all remember when ALL vegetables, not just greens, were cooked to mush?)

My Black card, which had been revoked was then reattained because they ate what I prepared and imitated it.

Over the decades, various transgressions have become normalized. I remember when having a smoked turkey neck instead of a ham hock in collard greens was greeted with mumblings and murmurings at both the dining room and card tables. Then came vegan versions with just olive oil (What? No Crisco? No bacon, at least?) and garlic. And now my husband stir fries his collards in a wok.

But No Matter How Things Have Changed…

At holiday meals, there are assigned tasks. Uncle Jack chopped raw onions when needed. Uncle Buddy made the fruit salad for Easter. My mother brought the greens in winter, macaroni salad in summer. Aunt Deanie did the macaroni and cheese, and the great aunts, my deceased grandmother’s sisters, oversaw the preparation of the roast beef, turkey, and ham. My father, if he were present, did the carving.

These designations/assignments were binding agreements that could stand up in a court of law. Do not violate the law of assignments by bringing some other version of a tried-and-true dish, even if you call it a new ‘cheese and noodle item’ to ‘try out.’ The auntie lawgivers know what you are trying to do. It’s called a menu coup d’état, and they are not having it.

The time for experiments is in your own home: your spouse and kids are the Guinea pigs.

My mother’s variation of a classic that I detested from that Sunday to the present was adding crushed pineapple to mashed sweet potatoes. A relative stops by, tries it, and then it can be introduced as an add-on to the standard holiday menu.

My Aunt Vivian’s concoctions from Good Housekeeping or Ladies’ Home Journal magazine also made it to the Black people’s tables all over the country in the form of a green bean casserole.

What Not to Do and How Did It Cross Your Mind?

People are, of all things holy, preparing mac ‘n’ cheese with so much sugar it tastes like custard with noodles in it.

Also showing up in the wrong places: raisins. Raisins have been reported in the stuffing (makes no sense unless it’s in a ‘sweet meats’ dish), in a pan of corn bread, and – heresy in the Black kitchen – the MAC ‘n’ CHEESE.

These are not mere allegations: There is photographic evidence of these Black card violations, but I don’t want to defame witnesses who remained present at the scene of the crimes.

The cook – bless his/her heart – was probably well-meaning, if ignorant. Maybe they got the idea from a social media influencer, much like Aunt Viv got recipes from magazines.

Thankfully, a long-winded blessing of the food at the table can give the wary attendee time to locate the oddity’s place on the table and plan accordingly.

But who knows? Innovation always prevails, for, as the old folks say, ‘waste makes want.’ What if the leftovers were cut up, dipped in breadcrumbs and deep fried? The next day, that dish might make it to the TV tray by the card table.

An older cousin – on her way to being an Auntie – in her bonnet, leggings, T-shirt, and bunny slippers and too tired to object, might try it and like it….

And if she ‘rubs your head’ after eating it, the new dish might be a winner and (Whew!) everybody, thanks God, keeps their Black cards.

Until the next time.