For a Stop-And-Frisk Plaintiff, A 'Heartbreaking' Birthday : Code Switch : NPR

For a Stop-And-Frisk Plaintiff, A 'Heartbreaking' Birthday : Code Switch : NPR: Not long ago, , the conversation that many young men of color get from their parents about how to manage being seen as suspicious and navigate fraught encounters with police officers. It's why Nicholas Peart's story resonated with us. Peart, who lives in Harlem, was one of the plaintiffs in New York City's big stop-and-frisk case. He spoke to StoryCorps about being stopped the police on his 18th birthday, and having to give The Talk to his younger brothers.

I had been celebrating my birthday. It had been a late night, so we decided to go to McDonald's, but it was closed.

A few moments later, three squad cars pull up, and they come out with their guns drawn, demanding that we get on the ground. They patted us down. They took our IDs, and one of the officers, you know, he had wished me a "Happy Birthday," sarcastically.

And I remember feeling helpless, and I felt embarrassment. You know, I had my cousins with me, and they are from the suburbs, and they had never experienced anything like that. But, growing up in the city, stop and frisk is something that my mother prepared me for. You know, it happens so many times that you start to think that this is a normal thing.