Driving While Black… on a Bicycle

I manage a small and frankly, rather low-end motel (someday when we know each other better, I will tell the story why) in a mid-sized midwestern community. That is only important for context and it in part to explain Joe, and his existence in my life. Joe is my favorite resident; he has been here for three years, is helpful, funny and in general a great guy. Now. what follows is the story Joe told me when he came in to pay his rent Saturday. I should mention Joe is a 60-year-old black man, our mid-sized, Mid-Western community is not (black that is). That is to say Joe is not the only person of color in this community but if you held a meeting of the "We are the Colored Folk in Town Association" it could be held in a phone booth. (That is Joe's description of the racial makeup of our community by the way)  

This past Wednesday Joe left for work at 5:30 AM, as he has done every weekday and most Saturdays for the past three years on his bicycle. He rides about an hour on the bike path to his job so he can arrive early enough "for a cup of coffee and a cigarette with the men at work". Joe NEVER misses a day's work...never. 

Now, we are located about 250 yards from that bike path, so the only street Joe rides on is the 250 yards to start his daily trek. Wednesday, less than 100 yards into that trip Joe was pulled over by traffic enforcement for " DRIVING on the wrong side of the road" A couple of things here: at 5:30 AM the only two items of "Traffic" on that road are me, if Im running early that morning and Joe, and when did bicycles become automobiles? When did riding a bicycle become driving and why has the only black guy in a ten-mile radius been stopped four times this year for traffic violations in the same 250-yard segment of road? I have heard of, driving while black... but this is absurd. He has been stopped four times so far this year for "traffic violations" and vehicle checks. FOUR TIMES!!

He had never told me of this before which is strange since we talk a couple times a week and the fact that I'm white and in Joes world makes me a prime candidate to be a Trump supporter and he's not and therefore is morally and intellectually superior.... he, invariably, finds some stupid thing with which to start with " why do all you white guys want to build a damn ballroom, or hide in a catering cart, or think a Pizzeria with no basement has a basement full of kidnapped children  etc, etc,etc...we laugh loudly, make fun of each other's hair (he's bald) and go on...

I can't let this one go. So, I have a meeting with a Civil Rights Attorney, who happens to be a friend so it's free, four times in one year pulled over on a bicycle for traffic violations'...seriously, is this how we want our local law enforcement, our county and state governments, our national government to behave? Not in my country-not in my world.

I despise bigots.