This sure "makes me wanna Holler."

"With that kind of driving, you are never gonna get a f-----g license in this state, I will make sure you dont get a f-----g license in this state." There were other statements made and I do not relish the thought of putting them in writing. When you read this vulgar statement, you might ponder for a moment or two why this statement was made, who said it and to whom.

The above statement came from a police officer and was directed at a student driver who was under instruction. The student in question was at an intersection in Harvard square and was proceeding while traffic in other directions had stopped. As she moved from the intersection, a police cruiser appeared from behind her and almost collided with her. The police officer immediately started berating the student and asked her to stop. With the motto "To Serve and to Protect", this particular police officer does a diservice to the force with such derogatory language. The student in this case was humiliated and was outraged at the insult heaped on her by this police officer.

Incidents like this make you wonder who you can turn to when you need the help. To borrow the words of Marvin Gaye, this surely makes me wanna holler. I always ask myself why police officers in many instances come out aggressive when a subtle approach is all that is needed. This reminds me of an experience my friends and I had at the Fenway branch of Starmarket.

Towards the end of last quarter, three of my friends and I went to do our grocery shopping at star market. We picked up the items as we went along and we made sure we did not miss any aisle. Call it bachelor style shopping but that was our way of making sure that we did not forget any item we might need back at our tiny campus cubicles called apartments. I did not have a girlfriend there with me to argue about whether we should get Friendly's fat/cholesterol free ice cream or star market's vanilla ice-cream, so of course we guys started gisting.

The way I see it, someone got scared of seeing four happy black guys and wanted to put a dent on what was till then, a good day for us. Without our knowing, the store manager had us followed and probably felt uncomfortable with our presence. Next thing we know, a police officer approached one of my friends and with a stern voice and a gruseome looking face said "Dont play games with me, I want you out of this place." My friends and I were very surprised at this kind of aggressive attitude. We asked for an explanation and the police officer just kept saying "dont play games with me." For lack of diplomacy, the police officer could at least have explained what we did wrong and why we were liteally being kicked out of the store.

On getting no negative reaction from us, he calmed down and explained the management wanted us out of the store and that he was only doing his job. We asked to see the manager and though she admitted she was the person who wanted us out of the store, we neglected to ask her why. Despite throwing us out in such a fashion, she actually suggested that we pay for the many items we had picked before we left. Such absurdity, after such a treatment, we were none the wiser and we went ahead to make stop & shop richer. Things like this just makes me wanna holler. Since then, my friends and I have started a boycott of star market and in addition, we now go with our girlfriends. We do not to get thrown out of another store and have to go to Mexico to do our grocery shopping.