You would think that law enforcement is hard on the colored people of color, abuses their power against them, and commits police brutality against them, but what many people do not realize is that they are not the only ones. Law Enforcement gives Deaf and Hard of Hearing people a very hard time, as there are several stories about their experiences when they had a confrontation with the police. One of several experiences, there was a Deaf woman who called police for immediate help because her boyfriend or husband was beating her, so once the police arrived at their residence. The Deaf woman was approached by the police, who were supposed to explain the situation about her husband or her boyfriend beating her to a pulp. Still, instead the police never took the time to hear her explanation, so they tasered her, then body slams her to the ground with their knees on the back of her body, and cuffed her, then booked her to jail while the husband or boyfriend who can hear was scoot-free. So imagine the horror as if you were in her shoes, the police never even questioned that man or even let the woman tell them what was going on or the reason for their call to the police station, so they immediately arrested a victim and booked her there without an interpreter to read her rights, which is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990. Didn’t even bother asking that man about the situation or anything, as they just tasered her, arrested her, then put her in the back of the car and left while that man got to chill at her house with a jail-free card given by the police. How can they do that?
That is just one story; there are several stories, and most of them are worse than the story I just told you about the police tasered and then arrested that woman. How much worse, may I ask you?
All I have to say is the person’s name; you’ll know it’s Daniel Harris. If you still don’t know, you obviously didn’t watch the news, and I suggest you read some news because Daniel Harris is another Deaf person. Now for several years, it is known that the Deaf community is very weary of the police because either that they have experienced firsthand with the police themselves in the past, experienced brutality from the police or extreme oppression from the police so that instills the fear within’ the Deaf community and many of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals hear some stories from their people. Hence, it spread more fears in the Deaf community. Any time that the police would approach Deaf or Hard of Hearing, of course, they are going to be very nervous and maybe panicked because of the horror stories that they have heard from their own people in the Deaf community or that they have already experienced firsthand in the past. Hence, they know what would happen even before the police confront them, as they know that they are going to be either brutally abused by the police or extremely oppressed by the police themselves. Deaf community is minority, very small which that is why they are more afraid than any other communities such as people of colors as being that Deaf community is minority, where almost several Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals have been experienced firsthand with the police before shared their experiences so these others who haven’t experienced the approach from the police yet they would already expect what have been happened to them would be happening to them too. The ratio in the Deaf community who have been brutally abused or oppressed by the law enforcement is insane, that is why the ones who hasn’t experienced being approached by the police expects that they are about to experience what the others have experienced, because it is extremely rare that any Deaf or Hard of Hearing person has been approached by the police properly or nicely.
Remember a few years ago, the Deaf man was walking down the street with a carving knife, as he is a woodcarver, or something, I cannot remember what it is called, on his way home. Somebody saw that he had a carving knife on him as he walked to the store to buy it that day, then walked home. Hence, these strangers on the street called the police on him, then within’ a couple of seconds after the police’s arrival, the woodcarver man, who happens to be Deaf was shot from behind as the police screamed by asking him to stop walking but obviously considering that he is Deaf so he won’t be able to hear the order from the police. Hence, he keeps on walking, but they didn’t pay attention to the fact that the man could be either Deaf or Hard of Hearing, as the police were happy-trigger as he shot the Deaf carver man in the back without coming up with another idea of how to get his attention. The best way to get their attention is to try to get in front of them, make them aware that the police need their attention because, since they are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and screaming from behind will NOT get their attention as they cannot hear them from the behind as anyone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing rely on visual more than anything.
Nonetheless, it is saddening that this happened a few years ago. The ignorant, happy-triggering police have taken another Deaf man’s life; the man I am referring to is Daniel Harris. What happened is that the story is somewhat smeared, as it seems they are trying to cover up or stall to come up with a story to share publicly, but some witnesses see it all. Daniel Harris was speeding, of course, he shouldn’t have, but that isn’t the point here, though. Still, he was speeding, so law enforcement spotted him and turned on the lights, getting behind Daniel Harris’s car. So, when you see a police car behind you flashing its lights, common sense says you pull over, right? Now what if it is unmarked? There is speculation about that. Back to the story, Daniel Harris was speeding. Of course, the man who was speeding is Deaf, so he obviously cannot hear the sirens. Hence, you get the picture: he kept driving because he wasn’t aware the police were trying to pull him over. A few minutes later, the police bumped the back of his car, which caught Daniel’s attention. He didn’t pull over, so he kept driving, doing his utmost to reach his family’s house. As I mentioned, almost every Deaf or Hard of Hearing individual has had a bad experience with law enforcement, so Daniel Harris was afraid. Hence, he just wanted to get to his family’s house so he could be comfortable knowing that there would be witnesses or that he’d have somebody to inform the law enforcement that he is Deaf.
That didn’t work. He was just about to arrive at his family’s house when his car spun out of control. He spun around, but he was close enough to see the house from his car. So he got out of the vehicle, getting ready to let the police know that he was Deaf, but unfortunately, he didn’t get his chance as the police happened to be a happy trigger and killed him right on the spot as he got out of the vehicle. Almost didn’t even give him a chance to stand up, as he was getting out of the vehicle, then as he was about to stand, his life was ended right there. Of course, his family and the Deaf community are saddened by that news, as Daniel Harris is known to be a very nice guy. His family and the Deaf community have said that he is someone who wouldn’t want to harm anyone or anything. So who is to blame? Law enforcement.
You’d think that people of color, especially black, have it bad with law enforcement. Not just them, but the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people too; the Deaf community. Law enforcement would always say that American Sign Language is misunderstood as gang signs, like what the heck. American Sign Language and gang signs are very different. American Sign Language is a real language; it is the language that the Deaf community was born with and belongs to, which is looked at as gang signs by law enforcement. Excuse me! That is like saying English is a gang language, too. Law Enforcement is known for serving and protecting.
Okay, I beg differ. Now I am not saying that all law enforcement is the same, but unfortunately, most are, and that is a problem. Many police departments have repeatedly said they have taken workshops annually, some classes, and others, to improve their policing when approaching Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals. As Ricky Taylor says, that does not work, and it never will. I strongly agree with Ricky, saying that each police station should have at least one Deaf or Hard of Hearing individual who knows American Sign Language working in the same building, so they can better understand how to approach anyone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Not just that, having Deaf or Hard of Hearing people who know American Sign Language working in the same building will expose them to it, so they can learn it while they are there. Then they would know at least the basic signs so they can communicate with anyone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, especially if they are pulling them over, as Daniel Harris did. Still, unfortunately, they have never been exposed to them. The death of Daniel Harris can be easily prevented. Daniel Harris wasn’t even endangering them, or anything, as all it takes is him getting out of his seat inside his vehicle to outside, and then the next thing he knows, he has been shot.
The police should have waited a few more seconds, allowed him to actually stand, and then see what happened before they shot him. A few seconds later, Daniel Harris could calm the law enforcement himself and follow their orders, as he was close enough to his family’s home to have someone there to interpret their communication. A few different scenarios don’t involve a happy-trigger shooting, Daniel Harris would still be alive today, and the police wouldn’t be on paid leave (PAID LEAVES? *Shrugs!).
Of course, since what had happened a few days ago with Daniel Harris, that is another horror story added to a long list of stories by other Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals in the community. Oppression, Brutality, Tasering, then arrested a victim, refusing to provide an interpreter, which violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in several ways and more. That makes me think: I wonder if law enforcement abuses their own laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act in particular, more than anybody else? That would be a good topic to discuss in the Deaf community, so I suggest you talk about it with your Deaf or hard-of-hearing friends or family members. Since what had happened with Daniel Harris by the police, it instills even more fear within the Deaf community to be approached by law enforcement, so I don’t blame any of them if they try everything in their power to avoid ever being approached by the police for any reason, because I would too. If you ask me, is there a way to fix this? One solution they could consider is hiring a Deaf person who knows American Sign Language to work in the same building with them, so they don’t have to be a police officer. They could be hired for roles such as mentoring, liaison, data entry, media relations, and other titles.
That is actually the only solution. Unfortunately, I don’t think the police would consider it, because, again, it is expected. As for me, have I ever been approached by law enforcement? I’ve been a few times, but not for any crimes or anything. The only times I had encountered the police were in a mall or at a football game, but most of the time, other police officers and I waved at each other, which may be because this city is somewhat small and everybody knows each other. My great-uncle was a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, for a very long time. So I’ve never had any bad experiences with law enforcement, and I hope I never will. Still, I am speaking for myself, I am one of 300,000+ Deaf/Hard of Hearing in the Deaf community here in the United States. I am one of these ratios under “rare” because there are thousands of Deaf or Hard of Hearing people who have had bad experiences with law enforcement almost every time, so I guess it does depend on the areas or police departments. So if you are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, I would highly recommend that you always keep an eye on yourself in the rear-view mirror now and then so that what happened to Daniel Harris doesn’t happen again. If you do happen to see an unmarked vehicle, please find a crowd place to pull over so if the police is to pull you over on a highway or a street then you slow down below the speed and try to find the parking lot with a lot of the people around so that there would be witnesses because police wouldn’t do anything if there are too many witnesses. So please be careful out there, be safe, and drive safely.
Here is a story from the news outlet about Daniel Harris, if you would like to know what happens: North Carolina Law Enforcement kill unarmed Deaf man who was using sign language by NY Daily News.
If you search on search engines like Google, you would see several news articles saying that North Carolina police repeat over and over that they still cannot explain why Daniel Harris was shot. Keep that in mind: the police department in North Carolina said they wear body cameras that would show what happened, yet they still say they cannot explain why it happened. That is something fishy if you ask me. That sounds as if they are covering themselves and trying to come up with a plausible but false story. A believable story that makes sense to the public, but it is inaccurate, and I am sure they are doing everything they can to get away with it, as the police usually do. But if they cannot explain, why not release the video from their body camera and let us determine what really happened? Then maybe we, as the Deaf community, can actually explain, but that is where the problem lies: they are afraid we are smarter than they think.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this article. I pray that Daniel Harris’s family receive justice for Daniel and find comfort. This shouldn’t have happened, but it happened, and it’s unfortunate, but we have to live with it, which is unfair. May Daniel Harris rest in peace, and the police of North Carolina do the right thing by suspending the police indefinitely, which would still be unjust, as to be fair, we’d be asking that he be arrested for murder. Still, again, we know how police work here in the United States. Please let me clarify: not all police and police departments are the same, but unfortunately, most are. Feel free to leave a comment below if you’d like to discuss this matter, the Deaf community, and law enforcement in general. I’d love to hear what you have to say. If you have had a bad experience with law enforcement yourself, I would love to hear about it as well. If you have any recommendations for how Deaf or Hard of Hearing people should handle being approached by law enforcement, please leave them in the comments too!
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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