Lessons Learned

My Black Beauty

I have written in this column about my experiences with Spain's police. I have said that I regard the police here as some of the most professional in the world. I have had no really serious encounters with any of the branches, mostly things like document checks, for which anyone might be stopped. In contrast to the police in the United States of America, who seem to take a great delight in stopping to harrass black successful men, here I have been treated with respect, and I have given respect.

It hasn't been the fact that I have been stopped, it has been all about what happens when I am stopped. I am a black man in Spain, and working against me is the image that so many people have of blacks arriving in small boats without documents or money. Therefore, it seems out of place that a black man could go about his business in peace and confidence. It has taken a learning curve to realise that some of us arrived by airplane, fully documented, as retired independent people.

My latest experience happened as I drove up to a document checkpoint. An officer walked across to my left hand side, from where he would address me, and waited until I arrived at the stop sign at the crossroad. He took one look at me, sitting on the right side; one look at the sticker on my windshield, and then he looked up at the sky as though to say the following: "I know that you are the only black man in Spain who drives a Jaguar XK6 Sovereign with the steering wheel on the right side; we all know that. I know that you are here legally, and that all your documentation is in order. We all know that! I also know that you are not a drug dealer, but in fact you are a retired person who, among other things were a member of The Police Advisory Board in your country, and as well, you were one of three members of The Permanent Police Tribunal, that dealth with matters of Police pay and conditions of service. We all know that because we asked the police in Bermuda to tell us about you.

I am not going to embarrass myself by getting excited that I may have a major arrest here, because that is not going to happen, as it has never happened. So, you are free to go about your business in peace."

Wonderful! It is just wonderful to live in a country and not be one of the usual suspects. That is not to say that I had problems in Bermuda, nor that the police in Bermuda are anything less than professional, because they do a heroic job, especially in these modern times of policing.

It is good to know that I have become known, but, of course that also means I must behave myself!

Copyright (c) 2012   Eugene Carmichael