National Football League

James Blake, and why I need to throw my checklist out the window

Published Sep. 15, 2015 9:00 a.m. ET

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Pull over.

Turn off the engine.

Roll your windows down.

Keep your hands on the wheel.

And, most important, announce any of your movements before actually moving.

When I was 16, my dad gave me this checklist while teaching me ... how to drive in the parking lot of Deer Park Middle School in Baltimore County, Md.

Two years earlier, my brother, then 16 and freshly licensed himself, was driving us home from the mall when a police car pulled us over. We sat for several minutes before two other cars arrived. After about 10 minutes, two officers approached. They asked us to step out of the car and we did. Finally, one of us asked why they needed three cars for a couple teenagers. The officer said that my brother had never taken his foot off of the brake, so they thought we were planning to flee.

This incident was clearly top of mind for my dad that day he gave me the checklist. Having done 20 years in the Army, he was organized and thorough, and there was no difference in his tone whether telling me to wear my seatbelt or how to behave in the event of a traffic stop. He delivered both with the utmost seriousness, believing they would increase my chances for a favorable outcome.

That checklist came to mind when I heard about retired tennis player James Blake's recent clash with police in New York. I am embarrassed by that reflex because it implies he did something wrong. Logically, I knew he was a victim, but maybe my subconscious was hoping that he violated one of the unwritten rules of engaging with police because that would mean I maintain some control, some power over what could happen to me. Maybe he looked dangerous, maybe he was loudly arguing with someone in the street, maybe he was running.

Then the video was released.

Polo shirt tucked in to fitted jeans, his hands out of his pockets, leaning casually against a column with the heel of one shoe touching that same column, Blake was the model of non-threatening black man, which is supposed to keep you from being attacked and humiliated. He was following all the rules. Had he violated one of those rules, it would have made the officer no less guilty and James no less innocent, and while it would not have done much for my faith in the arch of the moral universe, it would have allowed me to maintain my false sense of control.

When I go to get the mail or for an evening run in Manhattan, I carry my wallet because I fear being a victim of mistaken identity. I fear that I will "fit the description," that I will be stopped, questioned, or even cuffed and arrested. But apparently the tide of injustice can even overtake the truth. Now when I go for a run, every bounce of my wallet off my thigh is a tiny reminder that I am powerless.

As you can probably tell, I do think that this incident was influenced by race. I tend to think everything in America is influenced by race. In my opinion, we are all either succumbing to racial prejudices or overcorrecting for them. It feels impossible to exist in a world where we don't see race or allow it to influence our thoughts and behaviors. I likely hold that view because I have gone through life as a black man.

Given the facts of the Blake matter, I could see how someone with a different life experience than me would conclude that the problem here is not race but an out-of-control cop. The officer does have an alarming history of poor behavior, and even I agree that Blake and the fraud suspect police were after look alike.

Now what if the fraud suspect resembled one of the white people who walked by as Blake was being cuffed? Would the officer have taken down the woman who pointed at Blake while he was on the ground, mounted by the officer? Would the officer have wrestled and cuffed the man in the suit who strolled by? Would the officer at least have identified himself before tackling an innocent bystander?

We are all free to speculate, likely basing our opinions on our own experiences, which are colored by our color.

What if Blake had reacted to the anonymous attacker by fighting back? That would have been a reasonable reaction. Where would Blake have ended up had he defended himself?

I don't know. My dad didn't have a checklist item for that one.

Domonique Foxworth played in the NFL for seven seasons. He served as President of the NFLPA from 2012-2014.

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