Policing While Black

RIGHTing Narratives

Michael McDowell, AKA... Mike on the Bike, is a black man in law enforcement. For historical reasons, black people and the police have always had a complicated relationship, especially in the south where slave patrols evolved into early forms of law enforcement. People my age have grandparents who vividly remember seeing police dogs attack protesters and the brutality and beatings by police enforcing Jim Crow. The next generations can recall being pulled over for “driving while black” and being harassed by police, the mass incarceration of the Crack epidemic, and on into the killings of black men and women that happen frequently at the hands of police to this day.

For these reasons, Mike's decision to become a police officer was met with a lot of disbelief and disagreement. Hear Mike tell his story on this episode of RIGHTing Narratives.

RIGHTing Narratives is a Black Panache original production - a podcast network with a lineup of black-hosted shows sharing black stories and tackling black issues. For more information on shows like our newest production, Fat Lies Matter, visit blackpanache.com.

Help Support Future Minority Educators by donating to the Wilbert Bond, Sr. Scholarship Fund, created to honor Shannon's Grandfather, the first black graduate of Middle Tennessee University.

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