Professor Perry Doesn't Pay Her Ticket, Gets Arrested, Blames Racism

Dr. Imani Perry of Princeton University is a prime example of the problems that black folks make for themselves that they then blame white people for. Let's review: 1) Perry has PA plates but apparently lives in NJ. If you change residency you are supposed to change your license to the state that you currently live in. Now a LOT of people don't bother with that and Perry wasn't arrested for that, but she could have been ticketed.

2) Perry received a parking ticket some 1-3 years ago that she failed to pay. I've gotten tickets I didn't pay, and you know what happens? They send you a notice that your license has been suspended. They may even put a warrant out for your arrest for contempt of court/failure to pay. Either way, you get a notice. If you don't want a cop pulling you over, you hop to and pay your ticket. Now Dr. Perry works for Princeton University. She's making decent money and is driving a rather newish Acura SUV. So she cannot use the Ferguson excuse that she is broke unless she's very bad with her finances. Instead of owning up to the fact that she got a ticket and failed to pay it. Instead of owning up to the fact that she DID get a notice that her license was suspended and a warrant was issued for her arrest, she decided to blame the police for following the directions.

Now I watched the video of the arrest and that was perhaps the most accommodating arrest I have witnessed. Ever. The officer was practically apologizing for having to follow protocol. This is something that is unlikely to have been done had Perry NOT been black, female and employed at Princeton U. What did Perry have to say after so much accommodation?

‘Yesterday, on my way to work, I was arrested in Princeton Township for a single parking ticket three years ago,’ she said in the statement. ‘The police refused to allow me to make a call before my arrest, so that someone would know where I was.

‘There was a male and a female officer, but the male officer did the body search before cuffing me and putting me in the squad car. I was handcuffed to a table at the station.

‘At any rate, I was afraid. Many women who look like me have a much more frightening end to such arrests.

‘But the larger point is that I'm working to move from being shaken to renewing my commitment to the struggle against racism & carcerality.'

So much bullshit, so little time. Note how Perry is appalled that she is actually being held responsible for a parking ticket she got for not following the parking rules somewhere. Would it have been so hard to accept responsibility for getting the ticket and failing to pay it in a timely manner? Is this the kind of example she sets for her students?

Secondly the officer asked her more than once if she had anyone she could contact so that they could take possession of her vehicle. That was an invite to a phone call. She declined. Oh. The. Fuck. Well. After declining to contact anyone to "let them know where she is" she complains that she was not allowed to call anyone. Well guess what? You get a call AFTER reaching the jail. That's the legal standard. But I suppose Dr. Perry thinks that she should be excepted from the rules (see parking ticket).

As to the body search, that was done off camera so I cannot say whether it was done properly or not. I suppose that searching by the female officer could have been done, but had that officer been with a male partner or no partner she was going to get searched anyway. And how sexist is she to act like a man cannot search a woman with taking advantage.

As for being cuffed to a table, I suppose Dr.Perry finds "Jail" to lowbrow to watch but if she spent time away from her fantasy world she would know that this is standard procedure when someone is arrested. They do not want you to hurt yourself or others, and yes people are known to get quite violent when arrested.

Dr. Perry was "afraid". Awww....I suppose the idea of being held responsible for your failure to follow the law can be a frightening experience and normal people would say to themselves and others: "Next time I get a ticket, I'm paying that shit quick!" But Perry was scared. Awwwww. But look at her trolling for concern. Many women who look like her have what?

Look, women see the inside of a police station as an arrested person very infrequently relative to men. Black women who are as educated as Dr, Perry and who live and work in relatively upscale neighborhoods rarely if ever see the inside of a police station much less the backseat of a cruiser so Dr. Perry ought to lean off the melodrama. While we can agree that Sandra Bland ought not have been arrested (much less ticketed for making way for a police cruiser), her death was at her own hands and largely because like Dr. Perry, she failed to control her emotions about her situation.

In a larger sense Dr. Perry is damseling. It was the big bad white cop against little black female me. Why couldn't he leave me alone? I thought these liberal professors were against damseling? *shrug*

Lastly, if Dr. Perry is so much against racism and carcerality (an academic term which I'm chuckling about), she would have taken this event as an example of HOW not to let race fuck up your day. She could have used her platform to show that if you are not hostile with the police, they are likely to not be hostile to you even if they have to arrest you. She also could have explained to young black people that if they break the law, including getting parking tickets, that they should be responsible and pay them. And if they cannot afford the entire ticket to make arrangements with the court. She could advise black folks that when they ignore the consequences of their law breaking (such as license suspensions and arrest warrants) that it isn't racism, it's their own irresponsibility and they need to own that.

Had Dr. Perry done so, she would have done far more to fight racism and "carcerality" than her whining, complaining and lack of responsibility for her own actions. The sadder part about this is that she is shaping young minds and Princeton is lending their reputation to such irresponsibility.