Cop makes black men rap for him to get out of a ticket

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

cop makes black men rap for him to get out of a ticketThe mayor and police chief of Tempe, Arizona are apologizing after a video surfaced of a local cop making two black men rap for him, in exchange for not giving them a ticket for littering.

You can view the video here. Thanks to Kimberly for the tip!

He first asks for a name and ID from the driver and then asks the two men if they know how much the fine is for littering.

The officer then tells the men that they can avoid getting a littering ticket “if the two of you just do a little rap about — what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering.”

The two men agree, and each performs a short rap, laughing afterward. One says, “The dangers of littering, you will get a ticket. If you ain’t wit’ it, you better be experienced.”

The second man raps, “Yo, I just got pulled over ’cause I threw my trash out the window when they rolled over. They got behind me and pulled me over.”

Later, Schoville talks football with the men, one of whom agrees with his prediction that the Oakland Raiders will make it to the Super Bowl this year.

Schoville then says, “You know why you say I’m right? Because I got a gun and badge. I’m always right. That’s the way it works, right?” The three laugh and the two men get in their car.

Trackbacks & Pings

  1. TheThink on 04 Dec 2006 at 3:02 pm

    […] It seems as though blackness has become as good as currency in bribing policemen. A video floating around the nets shows an officer in Tempe, Arizona telling two black men who he has just pulled over that if they rap for him, he will pardon them from their littering ticket. The black men put on their proverbial tap dancing shoes, spit a few lines for the man with the badge and the gun, and go on about their merry way. The trash they picked up but in its place was their dignity. […]

  2. In case you missed it… at Addicted to Race on 08 Dec 2006 at 1:51 pm

    […] Cop makes black men rap for him to get out of a ticket: The mayor and police chief of Tempe, Arizona are apologizing after a video surfaced of a local cop making two black men rap for him, in exchange for not giving them a ticket for littering. […]

Comments

  1. Lyonside wrote:

    Yeah, they laughed… And then I bet they stopped laughing as soon as they got back in the car.

    Reminds me of a recent Storycore story on NPR: An AA boy growing up in 1950s New Orleans (pre- Rosa Parks, but barely) saw his father occasionally remove the metal grate seperating the White and Colored sections of the bus. When he was riding on his own, he did the same. When the driver stopped the bus and the white passengers were starting to bother him, an older black woman stepped in,hitting the kid and saying that what the kid did was wrong, and that she’d take him home and show him a lesson, etc.

    Then she dragged him into an alley, hugged him, and said, “Never stop!”

    Those 2 drivers did a nice shuck-and-jive cakewalk for the officer. Nice survival trait. Remind me never to drive in Arizona.

    Posted 04 Dec 2006 at 9:11 am

  2. Y. Carrington wrote:

    Jesus…it was only a matter of time, wasn’t it?

    The mayor’s apology was lame: “We’ll try to do better?” How about disciplining that officer, for starters? And the preacher that spoke at the press conference “Black people don’t speak hip-hop?”

    If they speak “hip-hop” or not, they still deserve respect.

    Posted 04 Dec 2006 at 9:11 am

  3. Jay Smooth wrote:

    StoryCorps in the house!

    Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 12:16 am

  4. coco wrote:

    It’s abusive behavior. If he can demand can song and dance performance for tickets, what’s to stop him from asking for more objectionable behavior? What would they have done if he’d arrested them after their song and dance anyway? They couldn’t claim in court that they should be let go because they’d rapped for the officer. It’s not the officer’s job to decide guilt and mete out punishments. That’s for the judge to do. It’s the officer’s job to decide whether or not to ticket.

    Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 3:28 pm

  5. Marshall wrote:

    The scary thing is that some people will think that what the officer did was innocent, harmless fun, and that the dirver is lucky. Such demands from officers could easily escalate into more abusive behavior.

    Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 5:36 pm

  6. kim wrote:

    Jay Smooth,

    What’s up? It’s been yeeeears.

    -Kim, from the scene with Iz, Tkalla, Asha, etc.

    Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 10:32 pm

  7. kathleen wrote:

    this kind of thing just makes me sick. APOLOGIZED????? this policeman should be fired. what an abuse of power. he probably went back to the station and him and all his red neck buddies had a good laugh at the expense of the pride of these two men. it may be a joke to them, but is a scar on the psyche of these two who have learned that the only way to deal with “the man” is to smile in their face.

    Posted 12 Dec 2006 at 11:00 pm

  8. Drea wrote:

    Wow! Not all black people rap but anyways . . . . Yea why am i not surpeized to hear this kind of behavoir comin from a races police officer and the bad part about it is who knows what other kind of deals hes makin with other people in exchange to get out of a ticket. I hope he got fired for what he for what he did because not only is he a perfect exsample of a bad cop but he alsó makes his self look stúpid

    Posted 05 Aug 2008 at 1:49 am

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