Why does race matter?

I ask this question because I think we need to have a discussion on race. I have heard many politicians blame the racial animus on the President. And as an African American veteran I have not seen anything he has done to Stoke the racial divide. But that's not what I want to talk about. I'm going to talk about my experience. Growing up I've had Mexicans, Asians, native Americans, and white people eating from my kitchen table, because one we were all related and two my family can really cook. So growing up I personally didn't know anything about racism until I got to be a teen-ager. Now growing up I heard about the KKK, but never saw them or really knew what it was about. Until middle school. My first brush with overt racism was when a guy that I grew up with called me a coon. Honestly I didn't know what he meant I had to go look it up. After I saw what it meant I was dumb founded. This was some body I knew and played with all the time. So, I said maybe he didn't mean it. The next day he called me a porch monkey and I had to go look that up. Now I'm pissed. But instead of taking my anger out on him I tried to figure out why he changed. Now I had spent every summer around this guy except the last two. He went to live with his Mom for two years. And when he came back he came back with family members who I didn't know. But they treated people different. The following year I moved to a different part of the state. To the capital. And the projects and attended a majority black school. Now we did this mid school year. The previous school was majority white. So I got to see the difference in education first hand. I went from a class room of fifteen to a class room of forty. From having finished the book to being on chapter 7 mid year. But I learned a lot more about myself and my history. Which I was never taught at my other school. I taught that I could go to college if I put forth the effort. At no point was I taught to hate or be angry at someone. But noticing how different i was being treated was troubling to me. I felt free and I didn't have to worry about anything. Yes there was crime, but it didn't bother me. If something was stolen you knew who did it and where they were. So here come my first run in for police. My second summer in the projects I had a summer job working a McDonald's. I took my first paycheck and went to the mall. I was followed through the mall by a county police officer and he stopped searched asked me where did I get the money from he didn't believe when I told him I worked for McDonald's. Later that day I got a call from the manager saying a police officer said that I was in the mall stealing so she fired me. All that summer that officer would try mess with me until I started working for the urban league who got me a job on base. And a staff Sargent started to pick me up for work everyday and bring me home. I didn't have another run in with the police until my twenties. I would be driving coming home on liberty and get stopped for speeding in full uniform and held on the side of the road for hours while they searched for drugs. All the while listening to them making smart ass comments about me. This happened several times in one year. My next run-in with the police was a few months after I got out of the military. I saved some money to pay cash for a cheap car and I was taking it to get registered the temporary tag had come off and I had already been to the DMV a few days before but the title of the cars wasn't filled out right, so I had to get with the seller and fix it plus I worked 12 hour shifts, so it took a few days to get back to the DMV. I get pulled over just as I was pulling into the DMV. Got a ticket for failing to register my vehicle. I thought OK I'll show the judge that registered my vehicle on time and paid my taxes on the car he will dismiss the case. Well I was found guilty anyway. I was pissed, but I paid the fine. My next run-in was with the same police department and court. Driving under a suspension second offense. I successfully argued that I wasn't notified on both accounts that my license was suspended. I used the information provided by the police to prove it. Then the officer commits perjury. Because the car I was driving was just purchased a week before she pulled me over she claimed I stole the forty five day temporary tag issued by the state. So I convicted on all the charges and held in isolation for a week so I couldn't appeal. My latest incident with police a sheriff deputy writes a trespass notice and arrest me for violating the notice a the same time. But according to the law trespass in my state is a civil matter and only the court can issue a criminal trespass notice only after awarding damages in a civil case. Well none of that mattered to the judge or the officer I was sentenced to thirty days and jail. Again held in isolation for eight days to prevent an appeal. I later learned that it's the county's unwritten policy to hold people in isolation when the conviction in Magistrate Court is suspect. Because the county has successfully sued for wrongful convictions and imprisonment. On trespass cases. I often get pulled over and searched and never know the reason for the stop. I've had weapons drawn on me for asking why was I stopped. I have been handcuffed hit in the head for saying no I don't consent to a search. All this before the President came to office. I know people who have been shot and killed by the police while complying with their orders. I know five police departments who leadership are racist. I can name on that you all will know North Charleston PD. The shooting last year wasn't their first incident it was just the first caught on tape. Remember the police chief had already said something different happen before the video came out and said thought the shooting was justified. When people say there is a war on cops I don't believe it. Because the numbers don't lie. More police officers have died from cancer, heart attacks, and traffic accident each year than violent acts. But mid way this year over 900 unarmed people have been killed by police. Yes the Dallas shooting was tragic especially when a department like that one has done so much to improve how they police.