WEBVTT 00:01.900 --> 00:04.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Sometimes overlooked in this week's debate over whether athletes should 00:04.200 --> 00:09.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% take a knee during the playing of the national anthem before games is the original focus 00:11.166 --> 00:14.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% of Colin Kaepernick's protest, the deaths of unarmed black men in confrontations with 00:15.266 --> 00:16.833 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% law enforcement. 00:16.833 --> 00:19.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Riley Temple is a lawyer and author. 00:19.300 --> 00:23.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, tonight, he shares his Humble Opinion on how those confrontations with police are 00:23.433 --> 00:28.033 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% a direct legacy of slavery and the racism that fueled it. 00:28.033 --> 00:33.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% RILEY TEMPLE, Author: Whenever I go to the Smithsonian's African American History Museum, 00:34.433 --> 00:36.900 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% I make my pilgrimage to Joseph Trammell's tin wallet. 00:36.900 --> 00:40.600 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% It's a handmade, thin case that holds his freedom papers. 00:40.600 --> 00:45.600 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% Joseph Trammell, a black man, was born a slave in Virginia in 1831. 00:47.666 --> 00:50.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% When he was 21, he was freed, and surely believed that he had some measure of liberty so long 00:50.833 --> 00:53.633 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% as he had his tin wallet with him. 00:53.633 --> 00:58.633 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% When he was stopped, he invariably had to effect a servile posture to the whites, who 01:00.166 --> 01:03.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% demanded to know who, why, how come, and what for. 01:05.833 --> 01:10.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The very sight of him, no slave tag, no white supervision in sight, was terrifying, an errant 01:11.633 --> 01:15.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% and aimlessly roaming Negro going about his ordinary days. 01:15.866 --> 01:20.866 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% His family undoubtedly reminded him, be nonthreatening, say yes, ma'am, no, sir, effect servility, 01:25.000 --> 01:26.666 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% cower even. 01:26.666 --> 01:29.300 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Just don't get killed. 01:29.300 --> 01:34.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I was having an ordinary day not long ago, when, in my upscale and overwhelmingly white 01:36.266 --> 01:40.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Washington, D.C., neighborhood where I have lived for the past 25 years, my dog Wilson 01:41.866 --> 01:45.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% and I walked past an apartment building just across the street from my own. 01:47.400 --> 01:50.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% As Wilson paused, a blustery white man appeared and bellowed at me to not let my dog stop 01:51.466 --> 01:53.033 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% there. 01:53.033 --> 01:55.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Then he demanded to know if I lived in his neighborhood. 01:55.433 --> 01:58.500 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% I asked why it was a pertinent question. 01:58.500 --> 02:01.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He became furious, threatened to call the police. 02:01.833 --> 02:06.833 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Three cops in two cruisers appeared within a couple of minutes, flashing lights and all. 02:08.166 --> 02:10.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% They told me they were answering a trespassing complaint. 02:10.866 --> 02:13.200 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% I pulled out my I.D. 02:13.200 --> 02:18.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I didn't have to, but I knew I had to show my papers to de-escalate the situation. 02:19.566 --> 02:21.233 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% I wasn't a trespasser in this rich white neighborhood. 02:21.233 --> 02:23.266 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% I lived there. 02:23.266 --> 02:27.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I got out of my brush with the police unscathed, but not before telling a belligerent cop to 02:27.466 --> 02:29.466 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% go to hell. 02:29.466 --> 02:33.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, in so doing, I broke a rule, the rule by which the Joseph Trammells of slavery days 02:35.966 --> 02:40.033 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% lived, and by which all black people today are told to obey, in order to survive confrontations 02:40.900 --> 02:42.366 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% with law enforcement: Be nice. 02:42.366 --> 02:43.366 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Be servile. 02:43.366 --> 02:45.633 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% Say, no, sir, yes, ma'am. 02:45.633 --> 02:50.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% By all means, do nothing that smacks of dignity or claim of right, else you will be killed. 02:55.633 --> 02:57.700 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% My story was minor. 02:57.700 --> 03:01.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But so too is failing to signal a lane change or selling illegal cigarettes, and those acts 03:03.033 --> 03:05.500 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% turned deadly for Sandra Bland and Eric Garner. 03:05.500 --> 03:10.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% By questioning my right to be, I was suddenly slammed onto that continuum of history, a 03:12.466 --> 03:16.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% black man, perceived to be an interloper, a trespasser, an imminent threat, just like 03:19.066 --> 03:22.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% freed slave Joseph Trammell in 1852 Virginia.