(details on what happened are below the video and image.)
Video: https://imgur.com/a/Govb4l5
(Thrown and tackled to the ground by police mistaking me for a trespasser because “I looked poor and similar to them”)
Recently there had been an impoverished women who's been stealing from the store I work at, I don't know where she comes from (I'm currently without a house myself and I don't seem them at the ONE shelter in the area) but apparently she got into a fight last time she tried to take something and got away as the cops came in.
I was at work a couple days ago, I was going outside to grab a soda from the cafe across the street to keep me up for my late shift which didn't end until 10pm. One of the cops called previously who was involved with the person mentioned before, mistakenly thought I was her, and came up to me asking “what are you doing here?” and when I said “I worked here” he got mad as if I insulted him and he rushed to grab and tackle me, other cops were called in as well. Someone was able to take a video of some of it before the cops had everyone get back as you can hear in the video. Some co-workers were outside and didn't want to deal with the cops at all and left inside, while I don't blame them for not wanting to deal with our aggressive police force, it may have helped to have someone say they got the wrong person so I WOULDN'T be thrown to the ground.
Eventually I was released when my identity was confirmed, and I later learned that the person in question was actually chubbier and a notably different skin tone than me. The only similarity was they sometimes wore a wrap on their head and were a black women like myself. But it was swept under as an honest mistake.
Among the biggest problems that came out of this was me being escorted out of work yesterday on return, that's when I learned I had been terminated. The district manager told me that they didn't want the company to have a bad “image” for higher-income clientele by having me stay despite the arrest being false, saying that others wouldn't know about that detail. She told me that due to the arrest by the police I could no longer work at the store false or otherwise. I had not too long ago got hired for this job and I'm already out the door. She said I'll receive an E-mail within 3-5 days with details on the decision.
The second big issue is that my phone was destroyed and all I got was an “oh well” out of it. Now putting me without any contact or able to go online and apply for new jobs. There's only one library in this small town (where I got the phone pic taken) and because of an influx of professionals, college kids, homeless, and others looking for jobs, printing, or other business, they only allow 35 minutes computer use and they only have about a dozen computers. The library opens at 9 and closes at 6pm so there's good chance you can go the whole day without even having a computer open up for a second 35 minutes. Not enough to search, organize, and apply.
I went to the phone store since the sim card was intact, and the only offer they'll give me is a discount where I can get a decent phone for only $99. but homeless with no job, how can I possibly pay for anything let alone $99? The time I have worked before my termination won't be paid out until next Friday and I'll need that for other necessities.
People keep asking me why I'm in poverty, commonly asking why don't I “just move out” of these small towns to some urban metro, well these are the types of problems that get in a way. Moving isn't free. I'd like to be able to have better support and more upliftment but that's not out here. Now I have to somehow apply for a different job without access to a device outside of 35 minutes a day.
Right now I'm typing this on a tablet display at a local store. That's how bad internet access is for me right now. Sadly, most sites on their wifi the tablet uses are blocked so it's not an alternative resource for the job search. The comment after I was arrested that I looked “poor” and similar to the other person shows just how out of touch people are with those who are struggling and I always have to wonder week after week how I'm going to be able to keep going.
Assuming I can find another job or another form of capital somehow, I am seriously contemplating getting a bus ticket with my daughter to Atlanta. Sure I wouldn't have a job and be on the street, but maybe over there there will be some form of uplifting and a chance for something better. I can't continue to live in this backwards hick rural hellhole. Sure, some may say I'm being delusional based on all the emotional stress going through this cost me, but there's little access to resources here. Lawyers won't deal with the issue because they said the cops were legitimately acting within their job of reasonable suspicion even if it was a mistake, so there's no happy ending here. Just new problems created.
Firing employees for “image” in a rural town is rather amusing if it wasn't such a detriment to me.