Reading articles about Denise Nappier, Connecticut's state treasurer, who recently claimed she was pulled over by police because she was black, made me think about the first time I thought I was racially profiled. It was right here in Danbury.
One weekend while I was in college, I took a road trip to visit my cousin, who attended Western Connecticut State University. I drove a white Honda Accord with a rusty black hood that my father bought for $500.
My cousin and I went to a nightclub downtown, and when we left and began to drive away, several young adults, most of them white, were stumbling across the street as though intoxicated.
They jaywalked in front of my moving car -- and others' -- but I recall being the only one who tried to alert them with short, repetitive beeps from my horn.
A few seconds later, a Danbury police officer came to my car and asked for my license and registration. I was not yet aware of my "crime."
After keeping my things for what seemed like an unusually long time, the officer walked back to my car and handed them to me -- with a $100 ticket for creating a "public disturbance."
How was I creating a public disturbance outside a nightclub that was blasting music that was loud even in the street?
The police officer may have pulled me over because I was black. He may have pulled me over because I was driving an ugly car. Or maybe a combination of the two.
Maybe he genuinely thought my horn-blowing was a threat to the public -- more so than the drunk-looking stumblers crossing the middle of the street.
My hunch was that he saw the ugly car with a black person driving it and assumed the car was not registered or my license was suspended or maybe there was a warrant for my arrest.
After appealing the ticket in court several weeks later, I learned that you are supposed to beep your horn only in an emergency, and my ticket was reduced to $30.
I wasn't completely sold on this explanation.
Why was I pulled over for beeping my horn, but the jaywalking stumblers weren't pulled over for public drunkenness?
I believe I was the target of racial profiling.
My dad, who is also black, told me stories about how he was frequently pulled over in Wallingford as a young adult in the 1970s. He drove there from New Haven, where he lived, to visit my mother, who he was dating at the time.
Once, my dad was even assaulted, he said.
For many blacks, Hispanics and members of other ethnic groups, being pulled over is a part of growing up in America. Often when black people feel they have been pulled over for no good reason, they joke that they were stopped for a "DWB" -- driving while black.
However, I recently learned black and Hispanics are not the only groups to feel profiled. A co-worker, who is an older white male, told me he was frequently pulled over years ago while driving home from our Danbury office alone at night in a pickup truck.
Police pulled him over about twice a month and asked if he had been drinking. He said because he was a single white male driving a pick-up truck at night, police assumed he was driving drunk.
There is a state statute against racial profiling. It's the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act.
It defines racial profiling as "the detention, interdiction or other disparate treatment of an individual solely on the basis of the racial or ethnic status of such individual."
The act says that no police officer is allowed to engage in racial profiling, and that race or ethnicity cannot be the sole factor for stopping people's vehicles, arresting them or locking them up.
In the case of my ticket, which seemed so unfair, how could I have proved the officer violated the statute?
Another Danbury police officer, who wished to remain nameless, said if you think you have been racially profiled, call the police department where the officer works and report the incident to his or her supervisor.
Continue to go up the chain of command until you are satisfied, he advised, "just like a business."
Nappier, who was ticketed for on several alleged violations, reported her experience of being profiled to the police. A superior court judge ultimately dismissed the charges filed against Nappier and said there was no basis for her being pulled over earlier this month.
Contact Stacy Davis at sdavis@newstimes.com or 203-731-3331. Follow her at twitter.com/StacyDavisNT or blog.ctnews.com/mixingitup