A White Officer Pulls Over a Black Man…and What They Did Next Is Why It Never Made the Evening News

Something happened after Greg Barnes, a black man, was pulled over for speeding last week, but not what you might have become accustomed to expect.

In a time when a rash of citizen encounters with police have turned into high-profile — and sometimes deadly — encounters, Barnes and the white officer had a polite interaction — capped by taking a selfie together and a Facebook post with a message about respect.

"I was pulled over today for speeding. The officer did not know me nor did I know him, but we each showed one another a mutual display of respect in our interaction," Barnes wrote on the Sept. 18 post. "He was doing his job, and I had made a mistake in trying to hurry home to get started moving that lead to our path's crossing."

Barnes recounted how the unnamed police officer ran his information, but rather than getting into a confrontation with the cop, he said the two politely discussed how their days were going.

They even chatted about how certain circumstances in today's world have led to negative clashes between cops and citizens, discussing how their positive interaction is the desired outcome if and when such an incident unfolds.

"In the end we both thanked each other for our mutual displays of respect and agreed to take a 'selfie' together to help tell our story," Barnes wrote.

Barnes posted a photo of the two men along with his message, imploring readers not to treat any "demographic and/or profession" as the enemy, and encouraging unity and mutual self-respect.

"I can't stress enough that NO demographic and/or profession of people are all bad," he wrote. "Neither of us are the enemy, We can continue to fight against each other until we are literally 'black and blue,' or we can show one another the respect we inherently deserve, not as 'black man' and 'blue police officer,' but as humans. None greater, none less."