Profiles of Men Who "Fit the Description"

[MountainLaurel]

A great article about existing while black in NYC.

The stomach flutter starts as a cop strolls up, or a patrol car flashes its lights, or two officers stand atop the escalator at the Jamaica Center in Queens and run their eyes over the subway riders.

"I see a cop and I can't help it -- I feel butterflies," said Tareaphe Richards, 21, a college student with an oval face and husky good looks. "They'll pull me aside sometimes because they say I fit the description. Yeah. Young black male. I always 'fit the description.' "

Dwayne Deacon nods as Richards finishes. They are standing in the student center at York College, a publicly funded junior college in Queens with a predominantly nonwhite student body. Deacon is fine-featured and dark-hued with a white do-rag and a trace of the West Indies in his voice.

"This summer I'm riding my bike back from the park and an undercover cop runs at me yelling, 'Stop! Now!' He told me only drug dealers ride bikes," Deacon said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121302238.html