Like a complete unknown

Paul K. writes:

In light of the Gates incident, I thought your readers would be amused to hear that Bob Dylan was stopped by police when he was strolling in Long Beach, New Jersey, after a resident reported someone wandering around their predominantly minority neighborhood. The two young officers who responded to the call had no idea who Dylan was, even after he told them his name and that he was on tour. Because he carried no identification, they took him back to his hotel so that staff could vouch for him.

Despite the evident racial profiling, Dylan did not ask, “Why, because I’m a white man in America?”, he did not say, “You don’t know who you’re messin’ with,” and he didn’t tell the police officers, “Yah, go tell yo mama.”

- end of initial entry -

Mark P. writes:

You know, if I ever get stopped by a cop, I am going to yell out: “this is what it’s like being a black man in America!”

Dan R. writes:

From the race realist perspective, I wonder, after the incident ended, if Dylan realized the police had just done him a favor?

LA writes:

By the way, I had read this story, and was not going to post anything on it, as it didn’t seem significant in any way. But Paul K.’s comment, by comparing Dylan’s untroubled response to the police with Henry “the Hustler” Gates’s insane behavior, made the incident more interesting.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 15, 2009 12:22 AM | Send