Kaylyn Wingo
Driving while white / riding while black
It is the intent of the legislature that the enforcement of this section be conducted … not in a manner that results in the harassment of the citizens of this state. – Michigan Seat Belt Law, Section 257.710e.(13)
We were passing through
the Charter Township of Chocolay
(always name names when
defending the innocent)
outside of Marquette (a college town)
in the Upper Peninsula.
We had driven eight hours
for my niece’s graduation.
In the middle of a construction zone, my son noticed
flashing lights behind us.
I tried squeezing over,
to allow room to go around. The flashing lights
followed me.
I pulled into a lot when I could.
License and registration were produced while
my son looked for the insurance certificate
somewhere in the glove box.
The dog sat quietly
in the backseat.
The cop said
my son wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
My son had been stopped by police
after getting off the bus in Southfield
(where he’d been followed by a
you-buy-now you-buy-now store owner).
My son was patted down,
his backpack was searched.
The cop threatened to call
the school liaison officer.
At home, before I let him change,
I took pictures of my son, trying to see
what the cop had seen: puffy jacket, hat, no
gang indication that I recognized. Then
I called the state bar for a referral.
The attorney said he’d take my money,
but advised me to let it go. He himself
had been pulled over
while driving in Southfield
with his family in the car.
When I called the police for an explanation,
I was told that my son had had
a snow ball in his hand. The woman said,
“We’ve been having a problem with…
(and in my mind’s ear I heard,
“boys throwing snowballs at passing cars”
or something to that effect, not)
tires being slashed.” I asked,
“With a snowball?” She said
if I wasn’t satisfied, I could file a complaint.
At the police station, lobby empty, we waited
an hour to be taken into a room
and given a self-explanatory form.
I returned it, called to follow up, and eventually
received a letter from the chief of police.
He was disappointed in me
for not understanding
what they were trying to do.
In the Charter Township of Chocolay,
The cop said
my son wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.
You have GOT to be kidding me !!!!
Looking over, I pointed out
that in fact he was.
The cop said
it wasn’t on when we drove by.
What are you talking about ??!!??
Nodding to my license still in his hand I said,
“You see how far we’ve come. “I’m his mother and
I would not let him ride all that way
without wearing a seatbelt.”
Was he calling now for backup?
My license and registration
were returned to me. This round was over.
After he drove off, I had to sit and wait
until I could stop shaking.
My son said he’d seen
the police car parked along his side of the road.
The cop had seen
a black man in his township, which
self-reports as being 86.64% white with
Finnish, German, French, English, Irish,
Swedish and Italian ancestry.
The cop hadn’t seen
me, of German, French, English and Czech
descent, in the driver’s seat.
I continued to shake.
Kaylyn Wingo is a retired paralegal living in Michigan, where she leads the Waterford Township Public Library’s Poetry Writers’ Workshop. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Voice of Eve, Edify Fiction, Spectral Lines: Poems about Scientists and Footnote: A Literary Journal of History.