Author Squashes Police And African-American Stereotypes With One Facebook Post

Over the course of the past few years, there have been numerous situations regarding police, civilians, deaths, shootings, crime, and more that have raised serious questions. They have pitted people against one another and started race wars in America again. An author by the name of Steven Hildreth Jr. decided to shatter some stereotypes about police and African Americans, and he did it with one Facebook post that has since gone viral.

On Tuesday morning, Hildreth was heading to his office to turn in some paperwork when he got pulled over a squad vehicle from the Tucson Police Department. Hildreth knew he had a headlight out and realized a ticket was coming.

This was the start of a Facebook post he decided to put online that ended up going viral, and it was accompanied by an early morning picture of himself.

As the police officer came up to the vehicle, he asked Hildreth how he was doing and if he was carrying any weapons. Without hesitation, he let the officer know that he was carrying a weapon on his right hip and that he is a concealed carry permit holder.

At this point, the officer explained what needed to be done for the safety of everyone. Two officers calmly removed the weapon from Hildreth, and they even complimented him on it. The lead officer noticed his military ID and learned that Hildreth is in the National Guard.

Hildreth then gets told by the officers that his registration card is out of date but knows his registration is good. This is when the author begins thinking of how he’s going to pay the two infractions that the officers have him on.

The officers return with his weapon in an evidence bag as it was cleared. It’s then that Hildreth learns of his fate.

“‘Because you were cool with us and didn’t give us grief, I’m just going to leave it at a verbal warning. Get that headlight fixed as soon as possible.’

I smile. ‘Thank you, sir.'”

One would think that this isn’t really that big of a deal. Sure, officers give warnings all the time and don’t end up writing a ticket for obvious infractions. Still, Steven Hildreth Jr. continued on with his Facebook post, and the last part is what made it go viral, WGNO reported.

“I’m a black man wearing a hoodie and strapped. According to certain social movements, I shouldn’t be alive right now because the police are allegedly out to kill minorities.

Maybe…just maybe…that notion is bunk.

Maybe if you treat police officers with respect, they will do the same to you.

Police officers are people, too. By far and large, most are good people and they’re not out to get you.

I’d like to thank those two officers and TPD in general for another professional contact.

We talk so much about the bad apples who shouldn’t be wearing a badge. I’d like to spread the word about an example of men who earned their badges and exemplify what that badge stands for.

?#?BlueLivesMatter? ?#?AllLivesMatter”?

The author made it a point to let his followers and readers know that he is indeed a black man. Not everyone may pay much attention or even see the pic attached with the post if it is shared.

The hoodie portion is in obvious reference to that of Trayvon Martin, who was shot dead by George Zimmerman in Florida. Other cases that have brought much attention in the past year alone are that of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, and Jonathan Ferrell.

Steven Hildreth Jr. was never trying to make his post go viral. He was simply posting a message for those on his Facebook page to see. He has less than 8,000 likes on the page but wanted to let his feelings known.

The post about the Tucson Police Department has gone incredibly viral with over 168,000 shares and over 272,000 likes in a little over 48 hours. Steven Hildreth, Jr. wanted a message to be heard and some stereotypes of police and African Americans to be broken.

[Image via Getty Images – Wesley Hitt]