I worked for the Census Bureau just before the 2010 census (checking addresses manually to make sure that the census bureau’s records were correct that they were actually dwellings), and I had a team of people working for me that I had to keep track of. I would hold meetings at four different Starbucks every day (there were no Census Bureau offices to hold meetings in), and not a single Starbucks employee asked us to move along.
You’re preaching to the choir. I’m not trying to defend the actions of the officious white jackasses. The question that was asked was why the cops have to show up if no crime took place, and I’m highlighting the reason the cops bothered to show up in each case. The fact that the officious white jackass in each case escalated the situation to the point of calling the cops (or even initiated a confrontation at all) is indeed ludicrous.
I have no idea what the severity was in this case, but I would hesitate to endorse the notion that there is no flagrant foul conceivable that could justify a criminal complaint.
We are literally stealing people’s children.
Dollar General clerk calls the police on a black woman for using too many coupons.
Looks to me like it was for recording without his consent, although as the article points out NY is a one-party consent state.
Here’s a feel-good story:
Cops in San Francisco called on black man opening the door to his own business.
Police hold actor Ving Rhames at gunpoint after neighbor reports “a large black man” is breaking in.
That neighbor had better keep his mouth shut, or Ving’s gonna send over a couple of hard, pipe-hittin’ n***as to go to work on the homes with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.
Given the circumstances, this doesn’t seem to be very funny.
I don’t think Rhames would go that far. But I doubt he’d take a bullet for him either.
The Mission Impossible franchise is pretty bereft of humor, so he had to choose between a Pulp Fiction joke or an Arby’s joke; I think he did OK.
Black people with police guns drawn and aimed at them have a pretty short life expectancy. Frankly if I was Rhames, I would have been terrified during the incident, and more than a little angry afterward at the neighbor. Presumably he walked in through an open door, as opposed to kicking the door in or crawling in through a broken window. I can’t imagine what would make a neighbor think “breaking and entering” as opposed to just “entering.”
I can’t believe someone lives next door to Ving Rhames and doesn’t know he lives next door to Ving Rhames.
This is horrific. Neighbors see black and think ‘thief’ and ‘criminal’ and not ‘neighbor’ or ‘guest’ or ‘property owner’.
Our assumptions reveal our racism.
Unfortunately, that is fake news. But why wait for proof before acting on an accusation?
Wouldn’t the receipt and the server’s story be “proof”?
It’s not hard for me to imagine an elderly recluse (doesn’t know neighbors well at all) who is out of touch with pop culture (and so wouldn’t know Ving Rhames on sight/sound). ISTM that older folks are more likely to be suspicious of black people too. Haven’t heard any details about Rhames’ neighbor, but wouldn’t be surprised if they fit that profile.
The server has already recanted the story and admitted that he faked the receipt, so no.
Regards,
Shodan