A black former White House staffer was moving into a new apartment. Someone reported a burglary.

[still_one]

"Darren Martin moved to New York City this winter after years working for the Obama White House in Washington to take a job as an aide in the city’s government. After a couple of months crashing with friends and family, he finally found his own place on the Upper West Side.
The studio, on 106th Street near Columbus Avenue, fit the bill of what Martin, 29, was looking for: It was a decent deal in a good neighborhood just a couple of blocks from Central Park.
But about a half-hour into his move Friday night, police greeted him in his building’s lobby. A neighbor had called to report a potential break-in by someone who may have had a weapon, and about a half-dozen police officers stopped and questioned him as part of an investigation.
Martin said he felt like he had been racially profiled by whoever had made the original call.

“I don’t know if they watched me or saw me, through a peephole and decided to call the police and if they were in fact watching me,” Martin told The Washington Post. “What I do know is true is that they made a call, a very egregious call that I think was based on profiling.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/05/01/a-black-former-white-house-staffer-was-moving-into-a-new-apartment-someone-reported-a-burglary/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b6b22cbc6baf

[Cha]

1. I remember reading about this..

poor guy. Police called for moving into a new apt while Black.

[still_one]

5. Just a gentle reminder for some who may lose sight of the inequities that haven't

gone away

[Cha]

6. Of course.. there's

so much news it only helps to have it reminded. I actually forgot until I saw it again.

Mahalo, still_one.

[lunasun]

2. Calling and saying he may have a weapon . They were hoping he would get shot I bet

Racist welcome wagon

[dalton99a]

4. Yep, it was malevolent and possibly murderous

[ecstatic]

12. +1000. nt

[dalton99a]

3. And he was moving stuff in, not taking stuff out

[EffieBlack]

7. And it"s nothing new, as you know

Aides Erroneously Stopped By Police
AP, SEPTEMBER 27, 2000

WASHINGTON –– Two White House aides said they were traumatized, embarrassed and humiliated when gun-wielding police stopped them in a Washington suburb, erroneously believing they were driving a stolen car.

Bob Nash and his wife, Janis Kearney, both of whom are black, said in a three-page statement Wednesday in response to media inquiries that they were victims of racial profiling and were stopped for the "bogus crime of driving while black.” ... Describing the incident, the two White House staffers said after they were stopped by police, who, aiming pistols and shotguns, surrounded their vehicle, patted them down for weapons and handcuffed them.

"Pistols and shotguns were aimed at us until we were handcuffed. ... We were traumatized as a result of the stop," wrote Nash, adding that the incident left the two "embarrassed, humiliated and afraid for our lives."

Nash is director of the Office of Presidential Personnel at the White House, and Kearny works as a special assistant to the president and records manager.

A county police spokesman, Capt. William O'Toole, said Nash's car was stopped because it was believed to be a car reported stolen in the same area about 45 minutes earlier. He said Nash was handcuffed for "his own safety" and maintained that Kearney was ordered to remain in the car.

Although police denied that Nash and his wife were stopped as result racial profiling, authorities have acknowledged that the stolen car was reported to have been taken by a black male.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000927/aponline215153_000.htm

[MineralMan]

8. Disgusting! That's all I can say.

Shame on whoever it was who called police.

[zipplewrath]

9. "Why do you think?"

The police really have to start asking simple questions on these phone calls. Someone says they "think" they might have a "weapon", they need to ask why they "think" that. Furthermore, even if they do feel obligated to "investigate", the "investigation" should start with just a tad bit of "watching" to see what is really going on. When the call goes out, there needs to be an explanation that there is precious little evidence of ANY crime being committed.

[mythology]

10. Because burglars always carry stuff into an apartment

Common sense isn't so common.

[IronLionZion]

11. What did they think was a weapon? a couch? mattress?

is dark skin a weapon?

Anything except guns of course.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. "May have a weapon" is "code" that is guaranteed to have the call escalated in the system

and to ensure a police response to what would normally be considered a frivolous call.

Just like here in Philly with Starbucks, where the dispatcher for some reason decided to escalate the situation merely be manufacturing something beyond what the 911 call indicated - claiming a "disturbance" was taking place and morphing "two gentlemen" into "a group of males". And by doing this escalation, rather than have 1 or 2 officers show up to confirm, a whole armada of 6 bike cops and a supervisor show up as if someone was throwing chairs around and having a brawl.

[Iggo]

14. They didn't think he had a weapon.

They said he had a weapon, hoping the cops would come harder and faster.

(Yeah, I heard it...lol.)

[ck4829]

15. This is crazy. And yet we can't call people like this 'wypipo'

Coming from a white guy by the way.

[Iggo]

16. Sure we can.