The XX Factor: What women really think.

If You’re a Black Woman, You Could Get 15 Years in Prison for Cutting in Line

A post from DoubleX writer Lauren Bans:

My jaw fell to the floor reading this story. Three years ago, a young black woman named Heather Ellis was shopping with her cousin in a Missouri Wal-Mart. As I’ve done more than once in my life, Ellis and her cousin split up into two different checkout lines to see which would go fastest. When her cousin’s line started moving quickly, she joined him. The clerk accused Ellis of cutting in line, an argument ignited, security was called, and lo and behold Ellis, a pre-med honor student, now faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of disturbing the peace, trespassing, and assaulting a police officer. ... (Read the rest of this article in DoubleX).