After a police officer in South Carolina stalks a Black man, following him around in his car for no good reason, the man decides to confront the cop in a parking lot between a gas station and 7-11. He wants to know what the hell the cop wants. "I want to speak to your lieutenant," he tells the cop, who comes strutting out of his car. "You keep following me everywhere. … Why are you watching me?"
"You're suspicious," the cop says.
"… I'm 'suspicious'?" the man asks. "I came here to get a drink! From the gas station. And I'm acting suspicious?" The man shows him a green bottle of soda. "'Cause I'm thirsty. I'm on my way to work… I'm a tired technician!"
The cop must see the camera and realize he's losing badly. He turns his back and starts walking away. But the frustrated racially-profiled man wants clarity. "Why, 'cause I'm black?" he shouts. He demands to know what it is that makes him "suspicious." This question, coming from a Black man, angers the cop, who puffs himself up and asks if the man wants to be handcuffed.
The Black man backs up, but presses him. "What's the reason you're harassing me?"
"You're suspicious," the cop says again. (Just swap the word "suspicious" with "black" and it all makes sense.) The man asks again why he's being harassed, and gets the same exact answer. "You're suspicious."
Finally the man answers for the cop. "Because I'm Black. That's why!" he shouts. He turns the camera to himself. "I'm Black. Look at me. I'm Black. That's why he's harassing me" he tells us. "I went to get a drink from the gas station. Now I'm suspicious. 'Cause I'm Black."
Tweeted by FiftyShadesofWhey, the video was originally posted three days ago on TikTok by youngsav486 in two separate videos.
