It started out sounding like a classic racial profiling case.
A white man is in a car kissing a black woman. The cops pull up, suspecting it’s a case of prostitution. It wasn’t. Just a husband and wife having a little fun, until the worst stereotypes of black women infected police minds.
The woman was handcuffed, cried. And her wrists were cut by the handcuffs.
The couple claimed the police approached only because they were an interracial couple. And it went viral.
I remember seeing it at Buzzfeed via Twitter, and thinking: Not good.
But then something happened.
Neighbors — the ones who called the police in the first place because of allegedly lewd public exposure — produced photos that appeared to show the couple doing the nasty in the front seat. In broad daylight. While parked in a visible and trafficked area.
Now local civil rights leaders are demanding an apology from Watts for playing the race card:
Civil rights leaders Friday called for a “Django Unchained” actress to apologize after claiming Los Angeles Police Department officers racially profiled her.Project Islamic Hope President Najee Ali, Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson and other civil rights leaders held a meeting at 9:30 a.m. denouncing Daniele Watts after a recent incident.Civil rights leaders previously called the incident a blatant act of racial profiling before the audio recording and several photos were released.“We have nothing to be embarrassed about. She should be embarrassed. She’s the one that told the lie. She came and stated she’s a victim of racial profiling. We found out later on based on new information that she wasn’t,” activist Najee Ali said. “We didn’t make a rush to judgment. We can to aid a victim who we thought was victimized. For us, she’s wrong. That’s why we’re demanding Daniele Watts apologize not to LAPD but to our community.”
Watts says no way she’s apologizing.
We’ll never know what was in the cops’ hearts and minds. But the neighbors’ photos seem to indicate this wasn’t a case of cops just picking on or stereotyping an interracial couple.
[Featured Image Source: chefbelive on Instagram]
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