Reality on the Streets
May. 22nd, 2009 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dcseainAs many of you are aware, i had to appear at the courthouse, aka the town council chambers, in Herndon, VA, to present my driver license to the officer for a charge of driving on suspended license without notice. I experienced a thing i've not knowingly experienced before, and made an observation.
The Herndon Town Council Chamber is underground, topped by a very nice green glass and red brick pavilion containing stairs and an elevator. For court, we processed down the stairs, around the stairs and through security. Herndon is heavily Hispanic; about half the people present spoke Spanish exclusively, or almost exclusively. I was about the 6th person in the line. Everyone ahead of me was of a darker complexion than i am.
A couple people set of the magnetometer, and were wanded. I set off the magnetometer to the same degree as a couple of them and they waved me through. I know that this is because i am 'white'. This equally angered, disgusted and saddened me. On the other hand, it wasn't worth the hassle of confronting the people waving me through security, lest i encounter legal problems. Sigh. :/ That should not have been, and it saddens me that it is yet so. For though things here in the US have improved in terms of ethnic relations in the last 40 years, we still have a ways to go. 350 years is not undone in one generation, or in two. Alas.
This was my 4th appearance before a particular judge of the Virginia 19th Judicial Circuit, General District Court in 3 years. Many people were appearing for suspended license, as was i. More than a few had not gotten a new license due to documentation issues - likely inability to prove legal presence as is required to get a driver license in Virginia. For the non-English speakers, he would ask if it were documentation issue. If they said yes, he worked to reduce fine if possible and/or connect them with help to legalize their presence. It was refreshing seeing someone on the bench trying to help the immigrants who keep the economy - especially on the low-end -humming functioning.
The Herndon Town Council Chamber is underground, topped by a very nice green glass and red brick pavilion containing stairs and an elevator. For court, we processed down the stairs, around the stairs and through security. Herndon is heavily Hispanic; about half the people present spoke Spanish exclusively, or almost exclusively. I was about the 6th person in the line. Everyone ahead of me was of a darker complexion than i am.
A couple people set of the magnetometer, and were wanded. I set off the magnetometer to the same degree as a couple of them and they waved me through. I know that this is because i am 'white'. This equally angered, disgusted and saddened me. On the other hand, it wasn't worth the hassle of confronting the people waving me through security, lest i encounter legal problems. Sigh. :/ That should not have been, and it saddens me that it is yet so. For though things here in the US have improved in terms of ethnic relations in the last 40 years, we still have a ways to go. 350 years is not undone in one generation, or in two. Alas.
This was my 4th appearance before a particular judge of the Virginia 19th Judicial Circuit, General District Court in 3 years. Many people were appearing for suspended license, as was i. More than a few had not gotten a new license due to documentation issues - likely inability to prove legal presence as is required to get a driver license in Virginia. For the non-English speakers, he would ask if it were documentation issue. If they said yes, he worked to reduce fine if possible and/or connect them with help to legalize their presence. It was refreshing seeing someone on the bench trying to help the immigrants who keep the economy - especially on the low-end -
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Date: 2009-05-23 03:36 am (UTC)I'm unfit to work for the census because I sort of (bad tendon) flung a dusting brush at a guy who scared me out of my wits and wouldn't turn his stereo down. I'm in VICAP. I thought I was having a seizure of some sort. Yes, it was that loud.