Following a Staten Island grand jury's decision Wednesday not to indict a New York police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite trended online, sparking a dialogue about what some say is an unequal U.S. justice system that treats black people more harshly than whites.
Many people who identified themselves as white recounted crimes they claimed to have committed -- ones that went without punishment.
Jason Ross, whose Twitter bio identifies him as a writer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, started the hashtag on Wednesday shortly after the grand jury's decision was announced.
OTHER WHITE PEOPLE: Tweet your stories of under-punished f-ups! It's embarrassing but important! Let's get #CrimingWhileWhite trending!
— Jason Ross (@jasonjross) December 3, 2014
It quickly gained traction and remained a Twitter trending topic into Thursday.
Underage and completely drunk, knocked on the window of a cop car and demanded they drive me home. They did. #CrimingWhileWhite
— Beth Morgan (@bethmorgan) December 4, 2014
At 13 I stole a car with my friends & drove it 2wks before we got busted. Only one charged was black. #CrimingWhileWhite
— Cecily Kellogg (@Cecilyk) December 4, 2014
The only time I have ever been stopped and searched by police was when I was accompanied by a black friend #CrimingWhileWhite
— Pierre de Vos (@pierredevos) December 4, 2014
Went clothes shopping with a black friend in #NYC. He was followed the entire time. Oh, he earns five times what I earn. #crimingwhilewhite
— Meaty Vegan (@ThankTankCr8) December 4, 2014
I shoplifted when I was 14 and they let me go because my parents came down and we "looked like a nice family." #crimingwhilewhite
— Joel Watson (@hijinksensue) December 4, 2014
caught smoking weed on private property, lied repeatedly to cops, they found an oz in my car, told me to drive home slow #CrimingWhileWhite
— billy corgan (@UncleNatie) December 3, 2014
In high school I got in a 3 car wreck that might have been my fault. The cop told me it was the "illegal alien's" fault. #CrimingWhileWhite
— Elizabeth (@oceana_roll) December 3, 2014
Drunkenly peed at a construction site. Cops rolled up, told me to watch out for phone thieves in the area. #crimingwhilewhite
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) December 3, 2014
When I was 17 I was caught shoplifting and they politely asked me to leave the store (with the merchandise) #crimingwhilewhite
— Mark Agee (@MarkAgee) December 3, 2014
I can basically do whatever in my gentrifying neighborhood because cops dont pay attention to white ppl except as victims #crimingwhilewhite
— Kath Barbadoro (@kathbarbadoro) December 3, 2014
White BF told cop who stopped him for speeding to "f**k off." Let go with a warning and a "good night." #crimingwhilewhite
— Anne B (@abroshar) December 3, 2014
I was driving a car with a rejected sticker, no license, registration, any ID and a headlight out. Cops let me drive home #crimingwhilewhite
— Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry) December 3, 2014
#CrimingWhileWhite got caught with weed by the police a half dozen times and they just took my weed and told me to go home.
— #PoliceThePolice (@Joe_Schmucc) December 3, 2014
House-sitting. Nervous neighbor calls cops. Cops all around with guns drawn. Not shot. They called owner to confirm. #CrimingWhileWhite
— brian wisti (@brianwisti) December 3, 2014
I shattered a gaggle of my neighbor's windows when I was a kid. Got caught, didn't even have to pay or fix them. #CrimingWhileWhite
— Travis Morrow (@TheTexpat) December 3, 2014
Senior prank, taken down to police station, scared straight, driven home in front seat, cop told parents not a big deal #CrimingWhileWhite
— Nancy Arents (@narents) December 3, 2014
People who identified as black shared their vastly different experiences with police, using the hashtag #AliveWhileBlack.
Cop stops me. Illegally searches the car. I call my wife. She arrives. He writes her a jaywalking ticket for "interferring" #AliveWhileBlack
— GrooveSDC (@GrooveSDC) December 4, 2014
Dad goes into gas station. Pays for gas. Returns to car to pump gas. Police pull up and harrass him for loitering. #alivewhileblack
— Mandice McAllister (@iMandice) December 4, 2014
i explained to cops that i lived there & was on the phone w the security company they didn’t believe me “nice house" #alivewhileblack
— Franchesca Ramsey (@chescaleigh) December 4, 2014
Outcry over the grand jury's decision was not limited to social media, however. Protesters took to the streets of New York City, San Francisco and other cities on Wednesday night to express their anger, chanting "I Can't Breathe," referring to Garner's last words before he died in July. #ICantBreathe also trended on Twitter.
One group staged a die-in at Grand Central Station in midtown New York City, while a large crowd chanted and held signs outside of Rockefeller Center, where the annual Christmas tree lighting was taking place.
Daniel Pantaleo, the white police officer who put Garner in a chokehold, and other NYPD officers had stopped Garner, 43, in July on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. A video shows the confrontation between Garner, a heavyset black man with asthma, and the police officers; he was later pronounced dead from cardiac arrest.
The Staten Island grand jury's decision comes one week after a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white, in the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown.
Research suggests that black people are more likely than white people to be arrested or incarcerated for the same crime. Based on federal data, a 2013 report by the American Civil Liberties Union says blacks are nearly four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though both groups used the drug at roughly the same rate. According to a 2014 Brookings Institution study, blacks are 3.6 times more likely than whites to be arrested for selling drugs; they are 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for possessing drugs. This is despite the fact that whites are more likely than blacks to sell drugs, and about as likely to use them, the study claims.
In addition, a ProPublica analysis of federal data on fatal police shootings from 2010 to 2012 shows that black teenagers were 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than their white counterparts.
Additional reporting by Megan Specia.