Woman shares eye-opening police encounter to call out white privilege

A former New York City resident took to social media to share the story of a previous police encounter, highlighting the disparity between how Black and white people are treated by authorities.

Following the killing of Breonna Taylor, Lexi Hill, a Columbia University MBA graduate who now resides in the San Francisco Bay area, shared details of her alleged incident in a TikTok video, which has since been viewed over 450,000 times.

“If you still don’t think Black people and white people are treated differently by police in this country, I need you to think about what happened to Breonna Taylor while I tell you this story,” Hill began.

She then went on to describe an incident where four policemen showed up at her apartment door at a “respectable hour in the morning” to investigate an anonymous tip that the residents of her unit were “building and distributing firearms illegally in the city.”

“I looked at (one of the officers) and he looked at me, and in that moment, he thought I had an apartment full of guns and all he had to go on was my face and the empty hallway behind me,” Hill continued. “And of course, I had the caucasity to laugh in the officer’s face.”

After telling the officers there were definitely no guns in her apartment, Hill says that rather than taking a look around or asking further questions, the group accepted her word on the basis of her race, apologized for disturbing her and left.

As Hill noted in her TikTok, her story provides a stark contrast to that of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT who was shot dead as she slept in her Louisville, Ky., apartment by three police officers serving a “no-knock warrant.”

@lexielise

Hey TikTok, why did you show my haircut video to almost 1,500 people and this to just 90? Reposting until it gets SEEN. #breonnataylor #whiteprivilege

♬ original sound – lexielise

Hill’s video has since racked up over 800 comments, some from TikTokers recognizing their own white privilege and some from users who could not believe how comfortable she was in acting so brazenly in the presence of authorities.

“Honestly … I didn’t realize y’all had that much bravery around police,” one user wrote. “I guess y’all really do expect to be treated like you have rights.”

“It warms my heart to hear people are now getting it,” wrote another.

“Honestly I would have laughed too and I wouldn’t have been scared,” said a third. “White privilege is REAL.”

Last month, TikTok user Cameron Welch shared a powerful video explaining the “unwritten rules” many Black Americans are burdened to follow in their everyday lives, lest they risk retaliation amid a rash of violent and deadly acts committed against Black people.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the rules listed in Welch’s viral video are in relation to dealing with law enforcement officials.

“If a cop stops you randomly and starts questioning you, don’t talk back, just compromise,” he said in a video which has since been viewed over 12.5 million times. “If you ever get pulled over, hands on the dashboard and ask if you can get your license and registration out.”

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