StoryCorps on being black at a traffic stop

This story about how an African American teenager was pulled over, beaten by cops, and threatened by cops is a harrowing three minutes. Alex Landau is black and was adopted by white parents. The event recounted here rattled the family and changed their understanding of how he’d be perceived out in the world.

StoryCorps has been partnering with documentary series POV to bring some of these audio pieces to video.

From the website: Alex Landau, an African American man, was raised by his adoptive white parents to believe that skin color didn’t matter. But when Alex was pulled over by Denver police officers one night in 2009, he lost his belief in a color-blind world — and nearly lost his life. Alex tells his mother, Patsy Hathaway, what happened that night and how it affects him to this day.

Warning: This video contains graphic images and a racial invective.