As racial tensions rise around the country after neither officer involved in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner was indicted by a grand jury, Twitter responded Wednesday night with a kind of self-aware white privilege.
The hashtag, #CrimingWhileWhite, has been used not only by white users acknowledging they’ve gotten away with crimes, but also by users pointing out the difference in punishments between high-profile crimes of white celebrities and Wall Street-type tycoons and black celebrities.
https://twitter.com/MimiHamburger/status/540532023333748736
I was walking with an open container, extremely drunk. The cop asked me to put it down and made sure I could get home #CrimingWhileWhite
— Deanna (@fattkrisjenner) December 4, 2014
Many white friends pulled over for DUI In college. Cops followed them home to make sure they got home safe, no arrests. #CrimingWhileWhite
— firedupandreadytogo (@Firedup2020) December 3, 2014
Several Twitter users in the tag also shared stories of their own encounters with police and how their stories differed from those told by African-American members of the community. From CEOs to teenagers with DUIs, #CrimingWhileWhite is shedding a light on just how differently the justice system serves its communities of different races.
Thursday, #AliveWhileBlack began trending on Twitter. Black men and women began sharing their experiences of police harassment accompanied by the hashtag.
https://twitter.com/HypemanFresco/status/540544111741509632
https://twitter.com/Russian_Starr/status/540534927163682816
Cops were called the day I moved into my new apartment in the Castro, waited for my new roommate to get there #alivewhileblack
— Mark S. Luckie (@marksluckie) December 4, 2014
https://twitter.com/chescaleigh/status/540527557289193472