Opinion | Damien Jones: As a tall, Black man police see me as a threat. But I'm the one who should be scared. - NBCNewsTHINK
A demonstrator talks to a police officer at the Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House on July 4.ByStarting out as a congressional intern in the fall of 2013, I anticipated taking back many lessons when I returned to Texas Southern University to continue my education in political science.
As a 6-foot-3 Black man, I've been trained my whole life to protect my safety by trying to make myself seem less threatening — dressing in professional clothing, smiling extra hard. Yet I also brought home something else: the knowledge that, no matter my level of education, work experience or proximity to power, I would always be seen by the police as just a Black man and therefore inherently threatening. As a group of friends and I walked down the streets of D.C. one night near the Capitol Building, we were stopped by police, detained on the sidewalk and harassed for an hour.
I was the one who was and should have been terrified of these white officers with guns, but my dark complexion, casual attire and height made me the one who was seen as intimidating.
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