# Living while black in America **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 9, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611 "2018-07-09T21:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 92
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1823 "2020-07-30T19:58:26Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > In other words, your life experience is not universally true for everyone. This phrase needs to be tattooed on the faces of quite a few annoying fucks in this world. It’s one of the defining characteristics of your basic garden variety assholes. “I am right because my experience is the only valid one” Dumb fucks. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1824 "2020-07-30T20:09:34Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > It was arguably more violent when I was in college nearly 30 years ago. There is a theory amongst those who study this that it was more violent 30+ yrs ago and it’s related to fumes from leaded gas. > **[An updated lead-crime roundup for 2018](https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/02/an-updated-lead-crime-roundup-for-2018/)** > >   ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1825 "2020-07-30T21:19:07Z")
And all this time I thought it was due to less carbon in the air and lower temperatures… ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1826 "2020-08-25T00:24:05Z")
> **[Ta-Nehisi Coates on Vanity Fair’s September Issue, The Great Fire](https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/ta-nehisi-coates-editor-letter)** > > “Whiteness thrives in darkness,” Coates writes. “So it was with the slave narrative. So it is with the cell phone.” Really fantastic article from TNC. The focus on the mentality behind the oppressors, and what can turn humans into monsters, is fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1827 "2020-09-08T22:53:37Z")
White woman confronts black people on a public beach, telling them they aren’t allowed to be there, then slaps one of them’s phone out of his hand. She has been charged with a hate crime. [https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/white-woman-faces-hate-crime-interaction-black-men-72802839](https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/white-woman-faces-hate-crime-interaction-black-men-72802839) ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1828 "2020-12-29T00:37:44Z")
Here we go again with some out of control asshole accusing a black person of committing a crime: [White woman accuses random black teen of stealing her phone.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/27/nyregion/keyon-harrold-racial-profiling.html?searchResultPosition=1) If the video is blocked by a paywall I can find another link to the video. Or you can search online for “Keyon Harrold Arlo Hotel” and it will come up. Shortish version: 14 year old black teen is accosted in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel by a woman he has never seen accusing him of stealing her phone. He was with his father jazz musician Keyon Harrold who was a guest at the hotel. The hotel manager intervenes and rather than asking why she thinks this young man took her phone asks the teen to show him his phone. Dad is recording and at this point says hell no. It goes on for a while and then father and son leave but not before crazy racist person appears to tackle/grab the kid. So far the hotel and police are not releasing the name of the woman. It’s always possible there is more to the story but from what I’ve seen it looks like she lost her phone and decided to accuse the first black person she saw with a similar phone of stealing it. Oh yeah. Shortly after this all happened HER PHONE WAS RETURNED BY HER UBER DRIVER. She left it in his car earlier. I fucking hate people sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1829 "2020-12-29T06:15:58Z")
Of course, she will seek out that teen and his father and apologize publicly and acknowledge the racist feelings that drove her to make those accusations. Yes, that’ll happen. When rainbows come out of my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1830 "2020-12-30T00:12:00Z")
She may not apologize but [it looks like police are investigating and there will be charges.](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/manhattan-d-a-investigating-keyon-harrold-incident.html) The police have her name as well as security camera footage from the hotel. This isn’t just going to go away. > NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said during a regularly scheduled press conference on Tuesday that police obtained security camera footage from the hotel that will likely lead to serious charges. “We’re now looking to charge this individual with assault and maybe even look at grand larceny or maybe even attempted robbery,” Harrison said. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1831 "2020-12-30T03:07:51Z")
It suggests that she went to the hotel with the intention of taking someone’s phone…and that the" Uber driver" who brought her phone by may not have just found her phone in the car, but was in on it too? That makes more sense than that she happened to be at a hotel that she checked out of 3 days earlier - why would she even be there? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1832 "2020-12-30T03:19:24Z")
Even if that turns out to be what happened it’s still racist - in your scenario she picked the black teen because he was a black teen. Yet, I doubt the situation you propose is what was going on. But we will see. I thought the fact she had checked out 3 days earlier was odd too. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1833 "2020-12-30T03:54:57Z")
Right, totally racist either way. Actually, I was thinking about the story again, and it’s just really strange. Things don’t really add up in any scenario. She sounds like an entitled loon all around. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1834 "2020-12-30T07:51:02Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > It suggests that she went to the hotel with the intention of taking someone’s phone…and that the" Uber driver" who brought her phone by may not have just found her phone in the car, but was in on it too? Sounds to me like she’s just one of those people whose default frustration response to finding out that they’ve lost something important is an enraged mental klaxon of IT’S SOMEBODY ELSE’S FAULT, THEY STOLE IT! FIND THEM AND PUNISH THEM! Being one of those people myself, who had to learn the hard way in childhood that almost every goddamn time I tearfully complained about somebody haven “taken” my whatever-it-was, nobody had actually taken it and I’d just mislaid it my own stupid self, I can scrape together a little initial sympathy for others experiencing that knee-jerk misdirected rage. But my sympathy disappears entirely in the case of a grown-ass adult who hasn’t managed to understand and control that knee-jerk response sufficiently to keep from making a crazy racist ass of herself by flinging around baseless accusations—not to mention physical assaults—before she realizes she left her fucking phone in the taxi. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1835 "2020-12-30T08:18:29Z")
The sad part is all of the people who are supporting the woman. They’re saying variations of _“Why didn’t the kid just show her his phone and let her see it wasn’t hers? He should have been more reasonable.”_ No, the woman was the one who should have been more reasonable. A random black person should not be obligated to prove their innocence whenever some random white person accuses them of something. Being black does not make you a suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1836 "2020-12-30T13:18:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A random black person should not be obligated to prove their innocence whenever some random white person accuses them of something. Nor should they have to release a long-form birth certificate after a controlling legal authority said the regular one was fine, but there you have it. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1837 "2020-12-30T18:05:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, the woman was the one who should have been more reasonable. A random black person should not be obligated to prove their innocence whenever some random white person accuses them of something. Being black does not make you a suspect. Add to this the hotel manager’s reaction. The woman can be, and probably is, a lunatic, but the manager shouldn’t have decided to settle a dispute between a hotel guest and a lunatic off the street by suggesting that the guest indulge the lunatic’s fantasies. Does anyone think that a black person off the street accosting a white guest would get the same consideration? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1838 "2020-12-30T19:22:24Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > So far the hotel and police are not releasing the name of the woman. I agree with that decision. While the woman’s actions were wrong, they should be handled in a professional manner not by turning her over to mob justice. That would just promote the same kind of irrational attacks that we are condemning. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1839 "2020-12-30T19:26:57Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Add to this the hotel manager’s reaction. The woman can be, and probably is, a lunatic, but the manager shouldn’t have decided to settle a dispute between a hotel guest and a lunatic off the street by suggesting that the guest indulge the lunatic’s fantasies. I agree. If I’m understanding the chronology correctly, the woman checked out of the hotel on December 23 and then went back to the hotel on December 27 to say her phone was missing. And while doing so, she saw a fourteen year old walking by with a similar phone and said it was her phone and he had stolen it. The hotel staff should have realized that’s not a credible story. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1840 "2020-12-30T20:43:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If I’m understanding the chronology correctly, the woman checked out of the hotel on December 23 and then went back to the hotel on December 27 to say her phone was missing. It’s not clear to me that this is _why_ she returned, but maybe I missed something. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1841 "2020-12-30T20:49:20Z")
[The woman in the video has spoken to CNN by phone.](https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/30/us/keyon-harrold-iphone-incident-new-york/index.html) She says she was trying to get the hotel to let her view surveillance video to pinpoint who took her phone. She also claims she was the victim of assault by the father and son. CNN says she agreed to provide evidence she was assaulted but then stopped responding to their calls and texts. I’m thinking this isn’t going end well for her. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1842 "2020-12-30T21:06:26Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > but not before crazy racist person appears to tackle/grab the kid > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > CNN says she agreed to provide evidence she was assaulted but then stopped responding to their calls and texts. At a guess, the ‘assault’ was her bouncing off one or the other of them and/or them pushing her off of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=91) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=93)