BLAINE, Wash. — When Blaine Police Chief Donnell Tanskley watches protests grip the nation from his small northern border town, he sees the conversation about racially biased policing from a different perspective.
He too was a victim.
"That day is etched in my brain forever," Tanskley said.
When he was living in Ferguson, Missouri, he says a group of friends loaded up into two cars and headed out of town for a day of horseback riding. But along the way, the group was pulled over by several white police officers, who responded with an usually large response. The officers claimed the driver, a black friend of Tanskley, failed to use a turn signal more than a mile earlier.
Tanskley remembers being harassed by the officers and called derogatory names over and over again. His friend was eventually arrested for a previous violation involving a fishing license. Tanskley remembers the officers celebrating.
"It didn't sit right then, and it doesn't sit right today," he said. "When you have four or five police officers waiting. That's what's even scarier. They were waiting."
It was after that moment, Tanskley says he knew he wanted to become a police officer.
Chief Tanskley recently went public with his story in an Op-Ed in the Blaine Northern Light entitled "It's long past time the two Americas come together".
"This isn't a black issue. This isn't a white issue," he said. "This is an issue that quite frankly America has played dodgeball with."
The demonstrations across America bring hope to Tanskley, who believes the demands of protesters may finally bring some lasting change.
"This is a situation we have to talk about. And more so, we have to acknowledge it," Tanskley said.