My 4th Of July: Chilling, Domestic Violence, Racist Cops, and No BBQ!!

So I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. For the most part mines was good. Well let's just say it was going good up until the actual 4th of July. I got to spend some time with my son and took him to a carnival down the street from us. We had a great time. Although I will say that carnival games are a damn rip off. Who the hell spends $10 to win a man in a toy boat, a bottle holder and some Mardi Gras Beads?? Now unless I can use those beads to...well you get my point it was a Rip OFF!! Next time I'm taking that $10 and taking my son to Toys R Us and tell him to pick something! LoL. But he had fun and was satisfied with his beads and toy boat so I guess that's priceless right?

Well moving on. After my son left on the 4th. I didn't have any solid plans at all really. So I was basically just in chill mode. My aunt had invited me and my mom over to eat so we were possibly going to do that later on. So I'm in my bedroom chillin and just watching TV and on the computer. Basically doing a whole bunch of nothing. Which was fine with me. So as I'm chillin I think I hear some bumping coming from the stairwell. Well it stops shortly after that so I think nothing of it really and proceed back to chillin. Well with a minute or so after that I can hear someone in my Apartment and it's not just my mom's voice. I try to keep quiet and see if I can recognize the voice, but I am unable to. At first it sounds as if they're laughing so I assumed it was one of my other aunts that was supposed to be stopping in town.

So again as I stated I'm chillin. And hopefully it's not TMI but that involved me laying in bed in some drawls and a t-shirt in front of a fan wishing I had a cold beer. LoL. So thinking it may be my aunt at the door I quickly, jump up and throw on some suitable clothes to go out. That's when I see my mom ushering a young white girl into my apartment that's crying and in tears. The young lady is hysterically crying and short of breath and really unable to speak because she's so worked up. Instead of rushing out and demanding to know what is going on I decided to play the back for a bit. Immediately I hear the young lady say she was in a physical fight with her boyfriend. That clue right there told me exclusively to play the back and let moms QB this one. I didn't want her to see another male and react accordingly.

So as I fall back to my room I look out the window and see one of my neighbors a taller man of Indian Decent rushing and jump into a car in a hastily manner. At first I thought nothing of the man and was definitely more focused on what was taking place in my living room. I went back to the doorway and listened. I overheard the girl still crying and trying to talk and my mom trying to calm her down. So in the midst of this she asks to use my mom's phone to call someone. My mom's response was if you're at all injured you need to be calling the police. The girl declined my mom's repeated requests to call 9-1-1 and just asked can she call a friend. Well there was a problem. Apparently her phone was left at the boyfriend's house and of course like most of us now a days she doesn't remember any of her phone #'s. So she's going through in her head trying to recall #'s and each time to no avail my mom was calling the wrong #.

So my mom gets her some water trying to calm her down some and hoping she catches her breath. In between trying # after # I hear my mom trying to get the story from the girl on what happen to her. From my room this is what I heard her describe: I been dating this guy a couple months. He's of Indian descent and he doesn't drink or smoke (weed). I lied to him and told him that I stopped smoking (weed). Well I had been drinking today. He was going through my phone and saw a text message about me having smoked with some of my friends. He got upset and we began to argue. The argument started to escalate and I decided I would just leave. So I began to go down the stairs. The next thing you know he's coming up behind me and choking me! The tears begin to flow again. My mom tried to calm her down and was trying to encourage her to still call the police "if not for you at least for the next girl he may try to do this to." Moms even tried to let her know if it happened this one time he will do it again. She didn't seem to be trying to hear her on that though.

Now at this point I'm walking into the living room closer to my back door, which she came into. She hasn't seen me yet. But she starts to get spooked asking my mom "do you hear something? Is someone coming in here?" She assured her the door was locked and that it was only her son that she was probably hearing. The girl then proceeded to go back to trying to remember a friends #.

Side bar: Okay I have a serious problem. It's probably good and bad. But that problem is I'm too damn suspicious. First off this is a small 6-Unit building. Most of the people in the building I know or have seen. I have not seen this girl before. So of course with the more #s she's not able to remember the more suspect I got. Now I too don't remember any phone #s. My phone is my only contact with the outside world for the most part and if I lost that I would not be able to contact 'hardly' anyone. However, I know 4 phone #s by heart. Those being my mom, my brother, my grandfather, and my son's mom. That's it. I will admit I don't even know my girlfriend's #. Just the area code. Sad I know. So needless to say I began growing more and more suspect with each wrong #. I'm thinking she may have got up in here and her dude waiting outside to try to pull the jack move on me/us. I had a lot of things going through my head so I was on guard for whatever. In fact, I was on twitter before the drama popped of so I ended up basically tweeting the incident live. Check out some of the tweets I received during the ordeal. Some of them may provide some comic relief to a serious situation.

ToshaRenelle@crecks DAMN! I know you thinking, "Why she have to knock on MY door" smh!5:44 PM Jul 4th from TweetDeck in reply to crecks

ADopeFiend@crecks Sound like a crackhead to me. tell er be gone! She gone jack you son!5:47 PM Jul 4th from web in reply to crecks

ToshaRenelle@crecks My mom woulda done the same thing. And I, like you, would've been side-eyeing the hell out of the situation, LOL!5:47 PM Jul 4th from TweetDeck in reply to crecks

ADopeFiend@crecks i mean EVRYONE knows one number at least, I mean ONE number. liesliesLIES!5:48 PM Jul 4th from web in reply to crecks

ADopeFiend@crecks Light that ass on FIRE!!!5:49 PM Jul 4th from web in reply to crecks

1JennaMarie@crecks tell her 2 call 911.. If ur in danger the law has 2 legally transport u to a safe location & tell her to get an ordwr of protection5:50 PM Jul 4th from UberTwitter in reply to crecks

ToshaRenelle@crecks That means she's gonna take him back! Or else she would've called the police before trying to search her brain 4 numbers of friends5:51 PM Jul 4th from TweetDeck in reply to crecks

1JennaMarie@crecks omg.. Let her know that abusive behavior hardly ever changes & it only escalates..5:52 PM Jul 4th from UberTwitter in reply to crecks

ADopeFiendRT I know a # 9-1-1 by heart. @crecks You know! Hmmmmm keep tweeting b, i need to know what goes down lol. Intriguing!5:52 PM Jul 4th from web

ADopeFiend@crecks If I see kwdkudywiudfyeiu`fg,iuwdg`tdkg,`ugduwy all up on your tweets I'll know that shit just popped off. LOLLOLLOL5:53 PM Jul 4th from web in reply to crecks

ADopeFiend@crecks YO, I GOT YOUR BACK MANNNNN! lol!6:02 PM Jul 4th from web in reply to crecks

nikkig09@crecks sounds funny..... What does she want u to do if she doesn't want to call police and claims to know no ones number....6:13 PM Jul 4th from TwitterFon in reply to crecks

nikkig09@crecks if I were to lose my phone I wouldn't know a lot of numbers but there's a few key ones I would...i.e Mom, dad, aunt, etc.6:14 PM Jul 4th from TwitterFon in reply to crecks

Thanks for all those that tweeted me during the ordeal.

So finally she remembers a #. Her mom but there was no answer. Then she remembered the friend's # she had been trying to reach but got her voice mail and just left a message. Then she called another friend. That friend answered and she in a panic tells her to pick her up from "the guy's apartment" She told her to get there right away and to call her on my mom's number when she gets there and she'll come down. The girl continues to talk to my mom and I hear her say "He has the keys to my mom's car." That's when I chimed in and asked what kind of car it was. She proceeds to say the type of car (I forget the make and model). Now up until this point I had no clue who the "boyfriend" neighbor was she was referring to. But when she mentioned the car, I asked was it a red car? She said yes. I asked was the guy of Indian decent? She said yes. I then said I saw that guy jump into that car shortly after you came in here. She then started panicking saying that he took off with her mom's car. This is when I realized this had to be my neighbor across the hall from me, since they are the only Indian people in the building.

Well her friend calls about 20 minutes later and she's downstairs. She gets up to go downstairs. The girl was hobbling and crying saying her ankle was sprained. The girl didn't even have on any shoes. My mom put on her shoes to go downstairs and I let her know I'm going too and we walk her down. Her friend is at the door with an upset look on her face. My mom opens the door for her and she walks up to the girl and asks where is he? The girl starts balling again hysterically. Her friend says she's going up there and going to take a golf club to his head. Now it sounds like a great idea to me, but then I notice the girl is about 8 months pregnant. I'm thinking if he choked her out what will he do to you. But that's neither here nor there. The girl then says she's going to call the police on him. Finally someone thinking with some sense! So we walk them outside to the truck where the friend's boyfriend was waiting in. They both thank us. My mom and I walk back upstairs.

This is when my mom tells me her version of the story. She says she heard someone in the hall screaming and some commotion on the stairway. The commotion is what I heard but I didn't hear screaming. She then said she opened up the door and saw the girl crawling up the stairs. She immediately helped the girl into the apartment. As she came in she began to close the door behind them and that's when she felt someone pushing on the door trying to get in behind her. "Wait!!" I replied. "You mean he was pushing on the door?" "Yes." my mom replied. I was heated. I exclaimed I wish you had've said so because I don't care what the situation was aint nobody pushing up in my crib. She replied that everything happened so fast that she just reacted and closed the door and locked it. I let her know that I would be having a chat with the neighbor asap in regards to that.

As I retreated back to my room I looked out the window and I saw that the young lady and her friend were still downstairs in the parking lot. I let my mom know they were still out there and we both concluded that they must've called the police. My mom said she's going to go back down and check on her. I of course accompanied her downstairs. Just as we get outside it starts to rain. Also, the police pulled up just as we walked out. My mom walked up to the girl to check on them. I chose to play the back and waited by the door.

So as the police got out of the car there was the girl, her pregnant friend, the friend's boyfriend and my mom. So immediately the police get in her face and they're asking where is the guy? One of the officers looks over my way and immediately states "Is it that black guy over there by the door?" I'm once again heated (of course I knew it was coming but still heated), I yell back "naw it's not me." See and people wonder why I hate the police. How do you go past the white guy standing with her and assume that it's the black man standing on the side that's the guilty party? I could've just been taking out the trash or something? WTF. And if I was guilty the black instinct in me is to not stay on the scene almost a whole 30 mins. later and wait for the police! Damn idiots! My mom replied "No that's my son, and we're the ones trying to help the girl out!!"

So the racist officer continues to question the girl about the incident and what happen. Of course she leaves the part about the weed out. Then he asks about the guy. "Is he black or white?" She replies "he's Indian." The officer then asks "Is he in this country legally?" I mean come on wtf are there not any American citizens of Indian descent? Next he asked her where he was at? She said he went to work. He asked her where he works. She named the city he worked in. He then asked "where does he work in said city? Is it a gas station?" I mean man do all Indian people work at gas stations? What a racist ass! However, the girl then replied "well yes he actually does." Okay he got that one right but still it was an unnecessary stereotype.

From where I was it seemed like the girl was denying wanting to press charges on the guy. That's when one of the officers left. Then he asked to see her neck. From there he said why don't we just go down to the station and just take some pics to at least document the incident. The girl finally agreed. Her and her friend both gave my mom a hug and thanked her for her help. She asked them to call her later and let her know that everything was okay. The girl got in the police car and they drove off to the station.

So as we walked back upstairs my mom was saying that while they were talking to the cops that the friend got a call and apparently the guy had drove over to the girl's moms house. He had given her a totally different story about what happen and the mom even gave him an okay to keep her car. My mom also said the bruises on her neck were all over and they looked terrible.

After all that drama my mom and I decided to stay in and not even go to my aunt's house. Unfortunately, that has potential to bring a whole new set of drama that we were no longer prepared to endure. We had, had enough drama for the day! So I had no BBQ on the 4th of July!

I made an attempt to knock on the neighbors door but got no answer. My mom stated that the next morning someone from next door knocked on the door and was asking about what happen? She wasn't sure if it was the guy or not but she refused to speak with them given it was so early in the morning. I again attempted 3xs the next day to reach someone there with no avail. But trust I will eventually have that conversation very soon in the near future. I'm sure there are 2 sides to every story. And he can tell his side in court I don't care to discuss that. But I will let his ass know don't ever push up on my door again cuz his bitch ass will have to be fighting a man then. And it may not be the same results as his fight with his girl.

So there you have it. That's how my 4th of July went. I didn't even have to seek it out, drama came knocking right on my back door. I still thank god my son wasn't around for this incident. I could only imagine how he would have reacted. So In conclusion I say this. Domestic violence is real and there are people that go through it daily. I felt very sorry for this young lady. I also had suspicion that she may even go back to the guy. It is a very sad reality. I hope and pray she is able to move on from this guy and hopefully get past this devestating incident. And I hope that the guy gets his in the end. Also I conclude that I still hate the police and that I still have reason to do so. Finally, I conclude that without BBQ it's really not 4th of July. It felt like a random saturday, besides all the drama of course.

I hope that everyone else had a much more enjoyable 4th of July than I did.

--C-Recks--

9-1-1 is a JOKE!!!

Not too long ago the phone system at my job was changed to a new all digital system. Our phone system always required us to dial 9 to get a line out. So that didn't change. Most of the phone numbers we dial are outside of our area code we must dial 1- then the area code. So, to make a call we dial 9, then 1, then the area code and phone number. Keep in mind that we're constantly dialing out so many of us dial extremely fast not really paying attention to what we're doing. Well, some genius decided to make it so that if you dial 9-1-1 it goes directly through to the police. Therefore, we all of a sudden we started having an abnormal amount of accidental 9-1-1 calls. The city I work and live in is a small suburb so except for saving the occasional cat from a tree, the police have nothing better to do than to respond to 9-1-1 hang ups. But even when the calls were made and we told the 9-1-1 operators the call was an accident they still said their protocol is to send a unit to respond.

Now in theory being able to dial 9-1-1 directly without having to dial 9 to get a line out is a good thing. Especially in an emergency no one is going to be thinking I have to dial 9 first. Especially if it's a person that doesn't work in that office that has to make the 9-1-1 call. However, the logical thing to do after the first 5 or so accidental calls would be to change the # used to dial out right? Well as I mentioned in a previous blog my grandfather would refer to his supervisors as stupidvisors. That's enough to let you know that there isn't too much logic being used here. Needless to say that nothing was done and the accidental phone calls continued for the duration of a month.

Well about 2 weeks ago some of us employees were working on a Saturday morning. We usually begin work at about 8am. To further help illustrate the story let me set the scene for you. Our office is set up as to where there are 2 entry doors. The first door takes you into a corridor where there are 2 bullet proof glass windows for the cashiers. Then to the right of that windows there is a wooden door that takes you into the office. Yes I know you're thinking bullet proof glass and wooden door makes a whole lot of sense right? Again not my logic. But that's the set up. Also, there is a door bell next to the door for customers to ring in case there is no cashier available.

On this particular Saturday morning there were about 6 employees in the office, 5 of which were working in my department. I mainly work with females and I was was the only male there that morning. I must also mention that I am the only black male in the entire office as well. Also, Saturdays are casual so I was in jeans, t-shirt and maybe even a hat. Don't worry both of those things will come into play soon. So, about an hour into the work morning we're all working away making and receiving phone calls. Well as I'm on the phone I overheard the door bell ring. Now as I mentioned many times customers will ring the door bell when no cashier is there so I thought nothing of this. Usually when this happens someone in the front of the office will go and assist the customer or tell them to hold on for the cashier. But no one in my department usually gets up to answer the door. So, I think nothing of the door bell ringing. About 30 seconds later I hear the bell ring again. At this point although I am still on the phone, I am prepared to go and see who's at the window after I finish this phone call. However, seconds later I could hear someone opening the door up front and letting someone in.

Initially I thought that perhaps it was another employee entering the office that doesn't have a key. But when I heard the voice of a male and a female talking I knew that it couldn't be a fellow employee. The next thing I know one of my coworkers is walking past the office/room I work in with a police officer. They stop right in front of the doorway that I sit next to and continue the conversation. I over hear them discussing that another accidental call was made to 9-1-1. The officer proceeds to tell her that we will start receiving fines if the calls continue. Now all of this is standard protocol right? Well I must first mention that the officer is white.

So as Officer Friendly is standing across from me speaking with my coworker I notice out of the corner of my eye that I'm being stared at. However, I continue to work as normal. As he continues to talk and explain about the fines, etc. he is no longer paying attention to my coworker. Instead he continues to talk and listen to her while keeping his attention on me. Well much like rapper/producer J.D. says "Ya'll know what this is!!" Trust I knew what time it was like Big Ben. He was zeroing in on the most suspect thing/person in the office. The black man sitting in at the cubicle working. A black man working in an office setting, wearing jeans, t-shirt and a hat! What can be more suspect than that? Now keep in mind the only people visible to him are 1 other coworker, myself and the coworker standing and talking to him. Also I must state that I have no police record or outstanding warrants, so again the officer's suspicions were not warranted.

But let me attempt to understand this logic. I break into the office hold the employees for hostage in an attempt to obtain money. In the midst, someone calls 9-1-1 but I catch them and they hang up. So, instead of fleeing the scene when the cops come I tell everyone to play it cool and no one gets hurt. So I sit at a random cubicle and put on an operator's head set and pretend to be making phone calls like the rest of the employees just until the cops leave. Now I know there are plenty of dumb criminals out there. But I'm sure if the dumbest of criminals read this scenario they'd say "I'm not even that dumb."

But back to OFPD's finest. So as he stared me up and down he proceeded to tell my coworker that someone should have answered the bell because he was a second away from kicking in the door. Now I had one major problem with this comment. Kicking in a door actually requires lifting your foot. And by the looks of this officer he hasn't been required to pass a physical in quite some time. But I'm sure the local Dunkin Donuts had a picture of him on the wall as a preferred customer. So, after staring at me for a minute I guess he concluded his investigation and felt like the coast was clear and I wasn't a threat. Keep in mind the office extends past where I am. But he didn't continue to check out the scene. So there could have been more of my black accomplices toward the back of the office.

But I guess that it could have been much worse. I could have had pistols drawn on me and been handcuffed until a coworker screamed out and identified me as an employee. I guess being a young black male I should be used to the cops perceiving me as a threat or suspect. However, even after 28 years on this planet it is still not a feeling one gets used to. Although, as I stated this was a mild version of police harassment. However, getting pulled over by the police is a more frequent occurrence. That is almost an expectation when driving (I'll leave my brother to tell about the number of times he's been pulled over by the police in a future blog and or book, the number will shock you). But the last place I expected to have an encounter with the police is sitting at my desk at work trying to earn a living. Oh after this incident management finally decided to listen to the employees suggestions and changed from the #9 to the #8 to dial out. Finally, to that officer although I should use a certain N.W.A. song to conclude this blog I won't. Instead I'll leave you with the title to this blog which shares the same name as the Public Enemy Song 9-1-1 Is a Joke!! Kick It Flav!!!

--C-Recks--