Racial Profiling: The use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense.
You never want to get that phone call and it’s one of your children, in this case my seventeen year old African American son telling me that he’s been detained by the Durham police and that he did NOTHING wrong! It was Friday around 4:10 pm and my son had just been dismissed from school at 3:45 pm. He met up with five of his friends so that they could walk to the mall before heading to an after school event that they had planned to attend. They were no more than three blocks away from school when a police car ran up on them and pulled their guns telling them to get on the “effing ground” don’t “effing move” don’t “effing talk” get on the ground face down! The boys tried to inquire “What did I do?” and were told NOT to “effing” talk! AND… went further to say WE WILL SHOOT! There were two Caucasian policemen. The boys were unarmed and didn’t resist the cops. They were then handcuffed and put in squad cars after back up was called. There were at least nine squad cars on the scene at this point. The boys were asked for their information, where they lived and parents numbers etc. (I still haven’t received a call from the Durham Police Department).
It wasn’t until after the boys were handcuffed, gave their personal information and in the back of squad cars that the police told them what they were being detained for. A group of teenagers had broken into a house in the neighborhood nearby and they fit the description. They had received a call and allegedly these boys in question were black and wearing the same attire as my son and his friends. The boys were detained for about an hour and a half, and it wasn’t until eyewitnesses came to the scene to identify them that they were released because… (Exact Words!) THEY WEREN’T THE GUYS! “THAT’S NOT THEM!” There were at least nine Caucasian cops at this time and upon the boys release with no apology for falsely accusing and detaining them said… “Go back to what you were doing!” Um… I was and still am LIVID! My son cracked his cell phone screen when they pulled the guns on them telling them to get down on the ground, he asked after they were released if they would fix his phone and they said no, but they will put it in the report that I have yet to receive a copy of. I’m not concerned about my sons phone as much as he is. It was brand new and he’d hadn’t even had it a week. It’s replaceable, his life is not!
The boys were NOT given a copy of the report. They didn’t memorize badge numbers or names due to being scared at gunpoint and shocked by the whole situation. They were minding their own business and hadn’t even been out of school a good thirty minutes! I try to raise my children to be aware of what’s going on around them at all times, be respectful, learn to co-exist in today’s society and know when to walk away. I’m really saddened that my son and his friends had to endure this experience. It scared them and made them think about their lives and what could have gone wrong in this situation. I am happy that there were eye witnesses to clear them. I’m sure that there were tons of kids in the neighborhood in groups because school had just dismissed and I hate to chalk it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time but, I will use it at a learning experience and pray it doesn’t happen again. To the police department ALL young black males aren’t criminals regardless of what they may be wearing. You were in the vicinity of a High School right after dismissal and you grabbed the first black boys that you saw that fit your description!
These boys go to one of the best High Schools in North Carolina, strive to do their best and are Sophomore and Juniors in High School with no previous criminal records. They are focused on making the best of their teen years and getting ready for graduation and the next chapter of their lives. I’m all for #BlackLivesMatter BUT… #AllLivesMatter and I hope that things get better in our society especially for our young black males. I have a seven year old son too and I am just as concerned about him as my seventeen year old. I struggled with whether or not to write this post, but in the end, if I don’t talk about it… who will?!?! Stop Racial Profiling! As a parent what would you do?
Police brutality is at an all time high in today’s society. You would think authority figures would have enough sense to ask questions before assuming anything. #BlackLivesMatter
This is very scary. We see young men walking together all of the time here, and you just described my worse nightmare. I am glad they are ok and I am sorry you all had to experience this. No child should have to go through this unnecessarily.
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I would be livid too. Your boys fit the description because they were a group of black males in a group. This is unacceptable. You must let you voice be heard, and your son and the other boys should not stay quiet. Racial profiling because of race and ethnicity has got to stop.
I can’t even. So completely wrong. I get the police were looking for teens that broke into a home, but to come at a group like that especially when you aren’t even sure it’s the right kids? And, how educated are the police in this area if they don’t think first about being in the vicinity of a high school. It seems common sense that there would be a lot of teens walking around the area in the first 30-60min after the end of the school day. I am so sorry your son and his friends had to go through this. I have never been overly impressed with Durham police department. I’m sure there are some good officers, but it seems a lot of the department is out of control and they need improved leadership. Praying for your son & his friends. Praying for our community. This shouldn’t be happening. You’re right – #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter. Something we’ve seen so well this past week in the Triangle. 🙁
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I’m so sorry this happened to your son. These are the things I worry about when it comes to my own child and trying to protect him from the racism he will experience simply for being brown. #BLMGirls
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Oh, this hearts my heart & scares me to death! Thank God no one was hurt. This also pisses me off- you cant just arrest folks because they are the same color as the suspects- you need a little more than that! (Or at least you should!) These boys are all owed an apology, your son is owed a new phone and these cops should be ashamed of themselves not only for arresting the first black teens they spotted, but for using the language they used on them. Treat people with respect, if you want the same in return.
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I hate that this happened to your son and his friends. This type of thing happens all the time and it’s a shame that no apology was given. My hubby works in the field of law so I sense if something like this happened to any of our kids, we would have out attorney look into it. I would be very angry as you are! All we can do at this point is educate our children on their rights by law and hope for the best.
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OK, let’s look at a little thing called “Totality of the Circumstances”. Your son is with a group of friends that match the description of suspects that committed a B&E. They are in the proximity of the crime scene. They are ordered to the ground at gunpoint. This tells me that a felony occurred and may have involved weapons. Now, the officers have to do this little thing called an “investigation”. Sometimes, investigations take more than 30 months or an hour to conduct. And guess what, when they had the eyewitness show up and state that your son wasn’t the prep, they let him go.
Let’s look at some of the other “facts” of the case.
You state the officers were “Caucasian” yet I have no idea what the race of the officers has to do with anything, other than your own preconceived racial animus.
You state the boys were unarmed. Please tell me how the officers were supposed to know this? They don’t exactly walk around with x-ray equipment you know.
Your son wasn’t given a copy of the report. Not sure what you would be looking for in a report, other than evidence of wrong doing, which there was none. And it is policy of most all agencies not to release police reports except to the courts or in extraordinary circumstance.
Not all black teenagers are criminals. Well, no kidding. Which officer stayed this, or is this, again, your own preconceived notion about how white officers think.
Had your son been Hispanic, do you think he would have even been investigated? I doubt it BECAUSE THE SUSPECT, AS YOU MENTION IN YOUR OWN BLOG, WERE BLACK!!!!
Unfortunately this happened to your son. As a father I would be unnerved as well if this happened to my son or daughter. That said, what if it was your home that had been broken into and the suspects were black males. How would you react if the police saw suspects the matched the description, but didn’t stop to investigate because they were concerned about being called “racists” if they did. And as for those saying police brutality is at an all time high, please cite your statistics where this is shown. And where the Hell did anyone get brutalized here? Your son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is unfortunate, but still doesn’t even come close to the claims leveled here.