National

#CrimingWhileWhite and #AliveWhileBlack Go Viral With Stories of Racial Bias

Published

9 years ago

December 6, 2014

People participate in a protest in response to the grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The grand jury cleared the white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of Garner, an unarmed black man, who had been stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, a lawyer for the victim's family said. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People participate in a protest in response to the grand jury’s decision in the Eric Garner case in Times Square in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Gillian Mohney, ABC NEWS

(ABC News)—Two hashtags with stories of alleged racial bias by police have gone viral in the wake of a decision by a Staten Island grand jury not to indict a New York City police officer in the choking death of Eric Garner.

Each hashtag focuses on individual stories about how people say race has affected their interactions with police: #CrimingWhileWhite has become a place for white people to recount stories of how they say they’ve gotten preferential treatment, while #AliveWhileBlack focuses on stories from African-Americans or people of color who say they’ve experienced police harassment in their daily lives.

One white user tweeted that he was pulled by over by police for driving drunk but allowed to walk to a friend’s house without charges. In another, a white user said he was arrested for stealing street signs in high school but had probation waved because it would “interfere with drama club.”
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