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Driving while black
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== Examples == A number of well-known African Americans have described experiences they characterize as of being racially profiled in their cars and some have related it to the phenomenon of DWB. In his memoir, ''The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist'', prominent astrophysicist [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] recounts his many encounters with police on the road and their ambiguous reasons for pulling him over. After learning about other African American physicists who have had similar encounters, he writes, "we were guilty not of DWI (driving while intoxicated), but of other violations none of us knew were on the books: DWB (driving while black), WWB (walking while black), and of course, JBB (just being black)."<ref>Tyson, Neil deGrasse (2004). ''The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist''. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. pp. Chapter 4. {{ISBN|978-1591021889}}.</ref> Senator [[Tim Scott]] of South Carolina, the only African-American Republican in the Senate, spoke on the Senate floor in 2016 about how he experienced racial profiling while driving in his car, adding "I do not know many African-American men who do not have a very similar story to tell β no matter their profession, no matter their income, no matter their disposition in life."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senates-lone-black-gop-member-says-police-stopped-him-7-times-in-a-year/ |title=Senate's lone black GOP member says police stopped him 7 times in a year |work=Fox News |date=July 14, 2016 |access-date=2017-03-16}}</ref> In 2015 comedian [[Chris Rock]] posted a series of different pictures on Twitter of himself in the driver's seat of his car while being pulled over by police, captioning one of his posts, "Stopped by the cops again wish me luck." The posts came just a year after racial profiling in the U.S. had become a salient topic in the public following the killings of [[Death of Eric Garner|Eric Garner]] and [[Shooting of Michael Brown|Michael Brown]] by police. CNN's [[Don Lemon]] stipulated that "Chris Rock may be in the middle of a case of Driving While Black."<ref name="ChrisRockStops"/> In 2016, tennis player [[Serena Williams]] made a public Facebook post in which she spoke about the fears she had for her nephew after he had driven her to her matches.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/SerenaWilliams/posts/10154607381941834 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/14185406833/10154607381941834 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |url-access=limited|title=Serena Williams - Today I asked my 18 year old nephew (to... |website=Facebook.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-16}}{{cbignore}}</ref><!-- Self-published primary source, but supported by secondary NYT source below --> Likely referring to the [[death of Sandra Bland]], she spoke about her worries that her nephew might be harmed by a police officer after being pulled over. ''The New York Times'' documented her post in an article titled {{"'}}I Won't Be Silent': Serena Williams on the Fear of Driving While Black".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/sports/tennis/serena-williams-addresses-fears-of-driving-while-black.html |title='I Won't Be Silent': Serena Williams on the Fear of Driving While Black|last=Hauser |first=Christine |date=September 28, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2017-03-16 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Other prominent African Americans who have recounted their personal experiences of racial profiling include but are not limited to [[Barack Obama]], [[Johnnie Cochran]], [[Will Smith]], [[Gary Sheffield]], and [[Eric Holder]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Goff |first=Keli |date=August 17, 2013 |url=http://www.theroot.com/celebs-whove-been-racially-profiled-1790868366 |title=Celebs Who've Been Racially Profiled |work=The Root |access-date=March 16, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Taylor |date=October 28, 2015 |url=http://www.essence.com/2015/10/28/6-times-president-obama-honestly-shared-his-own-experiences-racism |title=6 Times President Obama Honestly Shared His Own Experiences With Racism |work=Essence |access-date=March 16, 2017}}</ref><ref name="ChrisRockStops">{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Pearson |date=April 4, 2015 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/us/chris-rock-pulled-over-police-selfies-feat/index.html |title=Comedian Chris Rock posts selfies of police stops |work=CNN |access-date=2017-03-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Reilly |first=Rick |date=August 12, 2002 |url=https://www.si.com/vault/2002/08/12/327648/color-scheme |title=Color Scheme |magazine=Sports Illustrated |access-date=March 16, 2017}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> There have also been accusations of excessive force by police officers against black drivers. In this example, a police officer tries to explain a fear of blacks: Breaion King, an African-American elementary school teacher, was stopped for speeding in June 2015 in Austin, Texas. Officer Bryan Richter ordered King out of her car, and then threw her violently to the ground while arresting her in a parking lot. King felt the officer's reaction was because she was responding too slowly to the officer's orders. She was charged with resisting arrest as well as speeding. When another officer, Patrick Spradlin, was driving King to jail, he answered the question of "why are so many people afraid of black people". Spradlin's answer was because of "violent tendencies" adding "I don't blame" white people for being afraid of blacks "because of their appearance and whatnot, some of them are very intimidating". Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo found the incident disturbing and put both officers involved under investigation. Prosecutors dropped the charge of resisting arrest, but King still had to pay a $165 fine for speeding.<ref name="TheStar-2016-07-21">{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/07/21/texas-police-officer-caught-on-video-saying-blacks-have-violent-tendencies.html|title=Texas police officer caught on video saying blacks have 'violent tendencies'|date=July 21, 2016|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]|author=Paul J. Weber |agency=Associated Press |access-date=2016-07-21}} See also the video attached to the article.</ref>
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