It’s the same old ugly story: A black man in his own neighborhood, minding his own business, is gang-tackled by a platoon of white cops. What was he doing? Exercising. (In the police report, “dancing in the streets.”) That’s a crime in Alameda, California? It is if you’re black. This arrest occurred on Saturday, May 23, 2020. Read story here.
The police came because someone called 911 about “an African-American person in the middle of the street.” The dispatcher asked, “Do you think they have a mental illness or they’re under the influence?” The caller replied, “Both.”
When the police arrived, he explained what he was doing, and that should have been the end of it. It wasn’t. They decided to detain him. When he argued with them, they gang-tackled him. Police must have probable cause to detain a person. There was none.
The optics were bad: White cops, black man. Does anybody believe they would treat a white person this way? Incidents like this get cops branded as “racists” and undermines respect for police in communities across America.
The cops who do these things and the cop unions just don’t get it. Things have to change. Black people want to be treated like human beings.
Actually the police can treat a white person like this, and actually do so, but that is not news. News does have an entertainment element. What sells is an element on the headlines of the newspapers, and advertisers on tv or the internet. What draws more eyes.
Now is the black man going to sue the police over their stupidity? Maybe. And it is possible that Alameda does have an ordinance on dancing or dancing in the street or exercising in the street.
So you think reporting news like this is about its marketability as entertainment?