[redpoint5]

Obviously my experiences with police encounters are unique to me, and it's impossible to know what it's like to encounter police as a different race. That said, the same is also true of other races. It might be that some minorities are treated worse than others, but part of it may just be perception. I might view an A-hole cop as an A-hole, while someone else might view the A-hole cop as a racist, when he might just be a regular A-hole. Again, police tend to spend their time where the crime is, and that entails more encounters with those communities.

I'm ashamed to say that I used a racial slur once in my life, not out of racist motivation, but out of regular old anger for someone acting completely inappropriate (yelled at a 17 year old girl in our group about a sex act he was going to do to her). In my anger I thought of the worst thing I could think to yell at the guy, and what came out was a racial slur. I'd have yelled something non-racial yet equally vile if it had been a white guy.