Almond Biscuit Bombs
Calling the police on Black people puts them in danger. White folks, we’ve started to use calling the police more as a way to keep people out of certain spaces or prevent certain behaviors than to respond to legitimate emergencies. When we do this without examining our biases — without asking ourselves why we feel like certain people don’t belong or certain behaviors are a nuisance — it’s not surprising that the outcomes tend to be racist.
There are plenty of recent examples: the white woman who called police on Black people barbecuing, the white woman who called police on a Black woman taking a nap in her dorm common room, the white woman who called police on two Black men waiting for a friend at Starbucks. Any of these could’ve ended in tragedy. One solution is obviously dealing with the militarized and racially biased policing that is simply a fact in our country.
But another? Another is to STOP CALLING THE POLICE. I’ve grappled with this over the past few years as a white woman, and here’s my own personal plan:
First, I “rewrote my internal script” about the police at the advice of this helpful resource. I grew up being taught and conditioned that the police were safe and there to protect, but that is demonstrably not the case for people of color in our country. What really creates safety? Knowing one another, forming relationships, creating a community that looks out for one another, keeping our eyes open for one another.
If I get an urge to call the police now, I ask myself why: is it because of a sense of entitlement or indignation about someone’s actions? Is it because it’s easier and faster to “do my duty” and help someone this way than by stopping to help? Or is someone’s life really in danger? Only for the last reason will I call the police now.
In other situations, I try to stop and help instead of calling the police where possible. If a situation is not life-threatening, such as a disabled motorist, can I stop and pitch in instead of calling the police? Can I see if they need help changing a tire, or if I can call a friend or mechanic for them? If someone seems out of place or lost, can I stop and ask if they need help? Can I pay for their lyft home or to a family member’s house?
Keep a list on your phone of organizations in your area you can contact for certain specific types of help. For instance, here are options for helping someone having a mental health crisis in San Francisco, and here are some options for San Diego. Can you google and find some options near where you live?
And if the situation isn’t life threatening and no action needs to be taken, can you mind your business and let people live their lives?
This stuff isn’t perfect and it isn’t easy. It’s going to take more of your time and energy. It’s going to derail your plans. It’s going to stress you out to weigh your options and try to pick the right one. But it might also save someone’s life.
What are some resources in your area you can use instead of calling the police? Post some in the comments below to share.
One year ago: Corn Maque Choux
Two years ago: Sweet Biscuits
Three years ago: Smoked Salmon Salad in Avocado Boats
Four years ago: Easy Cheesy Artichoke Dip in a Baguette
Five years ago: Biscoff Spread Gooey Butter Cake
Six years ago: Gooey Chocolate Skillet Cake Ice Cream Sundae
Seven years ago: Toasted Almond Cake with Mascarpone Cream and Amarena Cherries
- 1 can (8-count/16.3 ounces) Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits or similar product
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 6 ounces almond paste, grated
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1-3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk
- sliced almonds for topping (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, mix softened butter and grated almond paste until evenly combined. Unroll the biscuits. Flatten each biscuit, place about 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter mixture in the center, and pinch together the edges of the biscuit to conceal. Place in your prepared pan with the seam down.
- Bake 17-22 minutes, or until deeply golden brown (let them get pretty dark on top to ensure they’re cooked all the way through). Cool at least 10 minutes while you make the icing. In a medium bowl, whisk powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough heavy whipping cream or milk to thin it to pouring consistency. Pour the icing over the buns and top them with sliced almonds if desired. Serve warm.
Priscilla Elliott
May 20, 2018 at 5:15 pm (7 years ago)Love this post. Thank you for all you said. We need mpre people to speak up
Julie Ruble
May 20, 2018 at 11:09 pm (7 years ago)Thanks Priscilla!
Katie
May 20, 2018 at 11:27 pm (7 years ago)I have so any conflicting thoughts about this! In my inner-city neighborhood, I feel like I wished people called the police more. I get so tired of someone getting their car stolen, and three different people saying, “Oh, yes, it must have been the suspicious guy who was out messing with everyone’s cars late last night!” And it makes me sad to hear of the many people who have been broken into and never reported it. I totally get why people don’t call, but it’s so frustrating! I agree with you about building relationships in your community–that’s the whole difference in knowing whether the “suspicious guy” is dangerous or your neighbor three doors down–but maybe the other side of the coin is building relationship with local police as well. I know our local precinct often has open house-type events where neighbors can speak to police about concerns in a low-stakes setting, and I hope other places have similar opportunities. Avoiding the police works in some scenarios, but the ideal solution is for them to be a safe resource for all!
Julie Ruble
May 20, 2018 at 11:40 pm (7 years ago)I hear you. I disagree that reforming the police as they are is the right path — the history of policing and the inertia of the current system makes me doubtful that you could make this institution a fair and safe one. But there are people who disagree about reform vs. abolition who manage to work together toward whatever progress can be made, and I think that’s more important than focusing on a disagreement about the route. I do think community-based policing where officers live in the community they work in and know the people there is a start.
Regarding the practicalities of the things you mentioned, honestly I’d err on the side of protecting human life over property, and I know that’s easier to say when it’s not my property. It sounds like you and your neighbors are in a good spot to start exchanging contact info and keeping eyes out for each other. I sympathize with the difficult choices you’re making.
Ivy
May 21, 2018 at 3:09 pm (7 years ago)Katie there’s a massive difference between a stolen car and someone just existing in a public space. Yes if someone steals a car you should call the police. But the fact of the matter is people of color are horribly mistreated by cops and overuse of their services only makes that worse. I like the idea of encouraging more white people to be human beings and talk to people before assuming they’re out t to get you.
Julie Ruble
May 21, 2018 at 4:03 pm (7 years ago)Honestly, though, because of implicit bias there’s often NOT a massive difference between calling police on a “suspicious person” (what white people sometimes think they’re doing) and calling police on someone just existing in a public space (what they’re sometimes actually doing). And Katie described not seeing someone stealing a car, but folks seeing a “suspicious person” that resulted in a car getting stolen.
So the practical application is the same: do you call the police on someone who seems suspicious? My assertion is that the danger for that person — especially if it’s a person of color — is too great to warrant any such call. And that our estimation of “suspicious” often needs to be interrogated.
I just don’t want to not acknowledge that the dilemma is real: the solution (not calling the police) may very well result in a stolen car at some point. But the alternative may result in the loss of innocent life, which is more significant.
Natalie
May 21, 2018 at 1:58 am (7 years ago)Looks absolutely delicious and such a great weekend brunch treat!
Alicia
May 21, 2018 at 3:07 pm (7 years ago)Thank you for this post.
Nicole
May 21, 2018 at 7:00 pm (7 years ago)“militarized and racially biased policing that is simply a fact in our country”
Saying something like this is, in itself, is biased. As the wife of a police officer, I am so disappointing that you are choosing to demonize men and women who put their lives in danger every day to protect citizens nationwide. I follow your blog to see your delicious recipes, not to read this mean spirited speech.
Unsubscribing.
Julie Ruble
May 27, 2018 at 3:39 pm (6 years ago)Nicole,
Again, this is not an opinion: it’s a statistical fact. Did you click the link? Here it is again if you need statistical analysis to tell you what any Black person can tell you from their own experience.
If your husband is a police officer and you are denying this fact and hiding your head in the sand instead of confronting it full force in your life and at his work — by examining, as some police departments are, ways to change this fact and build a better system — you are part of the problem. You thinking it’s more “mean-spirited” for me to request white people examine their motives and actions than for white people to continually endanger the lives of Black people for their own comfort is, frankly, racist bullshit. I hope you take a long look at why you think me sharing facts here is “mean” but calling the police on Black people barbecuing, sleeping, sitting, existing is a-OK.
beejay
June 1, 2018 at 3:54 pm (6 years ago)Something else she might think about…every time someone makes what amounts to a mean spirited nuisance call to the police, they are taking police officers out of action. What happens when something legitimate requiring police assistance happens and they have been sent off to arrest (or whatever) someone for sitting or waiting? That could mean other lives lost, lives of all colors. Nuisance calls like you describe can explode into dangerous confrontations, but they can also leave someone genuinely in trouble helpless.
Katie
May 21, 2018 at 8:59 pm (7 years ago)I suspect in practice we’d mostly agree on when it is appropriate to call the police, and I think I get your context a little better now.
The idea of the police being “overused” is something I have read about in the news, but NOT something I experience in real life. I consistently see my neighbors afraid to call the police to their own detriment (I am white and most of them are black), and it makes me sad for them, though I get it. I would rather not talk about it here, but I have seen multiple occasions where someone ended up dead or hurt because we have a local culture of not calling police. Not all of the situations seemed “life-threatening” until after someone was dead.
So again, I have a lot of conflicting thoughts about this, and I was a bit jarred by some of your statements! But I guess others are reading this from a different place. As always, I appreciate your reminders that racism is a thing, and I find you to be an appreciated voice of reason.
Rachel
May 30, 2018 at 10:03 am (6 years ago)Julie – thanks for this post. This isn’t something I’ve given much thought to and I consider myself relatively “aware” of bias. It takes courage to assess one’s own privilege and bias and even more to write about it on the internet. Please keep pushing me beyond my comfort zone- I need it.
beejay
June 1, 2018 at 3:47 pm (6 years ago)Bless your heart, and I mean that in a good way. It’s not just people not wanting to get involved or just being jerks because someone isn’t white. You mentioned a motorist having trouble. I was on my way to work on a freeway that was 5 lines in each direction, when a car came sailing off the side of an overpass and crashed to the ground 30 or 40 feet below. I was in the left lane, but I had my cell, so I called 911. When I had told the operator what happened, she asked me where I was, and I told her which freeway and which overpass the car had fallen from. She said, “Oh, that’s not our jurisdiction. You need to call the right jurisdiction.” And she hung up! I was furious.
But, just before the crash was out of sight I saw a man jump out of his car and run toward the car carrying a doctor’s bag. And other folks who were in the right lane had also pulled over. I have to say that I cried most of the way to work Thank God not everyone is as stupidly uncaring as that operator. People are either raised to care about others, or they’re not. And if they weren’t, then they need to teach themselves. That could have been her child driving that car. What was she thinking?
Samantha
August 28, 2018 at 5:33 pm (6 years ago)Less than five minutes ago I read a post of yours for the first time (the protein banana pancakes) and while I usually get annoyed with bloggers telling an irrelevant story for half an hour before getting to the recipe, your sense of humor converted me to Team Ramble. I then scrolled around looking for more recipes that appeal to me, and when I saw the subtitle of this recipe I had a “Come again, now?” Moment. For a white life style blogger to delve into this issue (or any issue dealing with living in a white supremacist country) was, not just refreshing, but so heartening for me as a woman of color. Then I scrolled through the comments and was further pleased to see the responses you made to people disagreeing with you. I’m on a new diet and it doesn’t seem like this blog will fit in well with my new lifestyle, but I’ll keep coming back for the humorous and woke vibe. Seriously, white allies are so few and far between that this made my freaking day.
Julie Ruble
August 28, 2018 at 8:38 pm (6 years ago)Thanks Samantha! I appreciate that.