Interviewee A: When my children were little, I told them very simply, if we get pulled over you stay very still. You don’t come from a background that’s wealthy enough for you not to get killed in the car seat. Don’t fucking move or talk.
Interviewer: Have you ever had, like, a negative experience with police?
Interviewee A: Many.
Interviewer: Could you describe some of them?
Interviewee A: Actually before I was old enough to drink every experience I had with them was negative. I got taken away from my family as a minor, twice, because of interactions with police. And as an adult I realized that if I’d came from a different community, I actually would have had them call my parents. I was unaware.
Interviewer: And so you feel like you were treated differently because of your socioeconomic level?
Interviewee A: I don’t feel that way, I know that.
Interviewer: You know that.
Interviewee A: Yes, absolutely. Had I lived in my grandparents’ neighborhood, no problems. Because literally, three years later in my grandparents neighborhood, exact same context, I stayed home. They just called my parents.
Interviewer: Do you think that happens here in Omaha too?
Interviewee A: I think it happens everywhere in the United States. I haven’t resided or been born and raised in another country, so I couldn’t tell you there, but in the United States it’s absolutely the case.
Interviewee B: They feel the way they do, and if you don’t have enough money, you know, they’re always gonna pull at the poorest cats that can’t afford anything, or, can’t afford defense. And, since, you know, I’m sorry, the attorneys, you know, kinda work in conjunction with each other, you know, on those levels. You know, one becomes a defense attorney, then becomes a prosecutor, and then maybe back to a prosecutor again. So its like, you know…
Interviewee A: It’s different, it’s not like that’s their intent. I mean, think about it.
Interviewee B: It’s their job. That’s what they decided to do.
Interviewee A: Do you think police men go up to where Bill Gates’ kids were playing baseball growing up? They don’t. You know, it’s a saturated demographic, so they go there, it’s just what it is. They don’t police the areas where people live in gated communities, they can’t even pull up in there.
Interviewee A: Absolutely, but again it’s different for them too, but it’s different for them too. If they’re way out in your neighborhood, they’re wondering why your soccer ball crossed the street, and are you okay, and throw your soccer ball back. They don’t do that on Corby Street-
Interviewee B: They come run your name.
Interviewee A: Yep, exactly, minor or otherwise they’re gonna run you. They don’t do that out West [Omaha]. But its not just us, its everywhere you go. That’s just, uh, an American issue, as far as I’m aware again, I’m not from anywhere else so I don’t know. But I’ve been all over the country, believe me, Southern California is much worse. So, it is what it is, you know.
Item: Unnamed Oral History Interview
Date Recorded: September 24, 2021
Type: audio/mpeg
Anonymous
Location: Omaha, NE