Police Put a Shotgun to My Head

When I was 13 I was playing with a friend's BB gun outside his apartment building. An older lady saw it, thought it was real, and called 911 to report. Unaware of that, I was quite surprised when I was rushed by 2 police officers and forced to the ground. One pointed his pistol at me until I was on the ground where he cuffed me. The other kept his 12 gauge a foot from my head until he knew there was no threat. I was released when they realized that I wasn't doing anything wrong.

I was a thug back then that stole things regularly, damaged property, hurt people, and had quickly (in that year) racked up a rap sheet longer than most people will ever have. I did not deserve to be treated gently and in fact this and a few other incidents are the correction that I needed to eventually turn my life around.

I was just watching a video about the Michael Bennet situation and recalling this event in my life and, while I realize this doesn't make me an authority on this topic or prove that I'm not privileged or racist or whatever, I feel like it gives me insight into situations like this that someone who hasn't ever been forcefully apprehended by police might not fully get.

I am nothing like the person I was back then and I have Jesus to thank for that.

It's funny now when people look at my life and judge me for being well enough off, "privileged", straight, white, Christian, and male. It makes you look like a racist, sexist, christian-phobic, straight-phobic idiot.