I haven’t devoted any blog space to the #PermitPatty and #BBQBecky situations. Not covering those stories isn’t any kind of political statement, I just prefer to write about celebrity gossip, fashion and politics rather than writing about the white people treating county and city law enforcement as their personal security guards whenever they encounter a black person. What’s different in 2018 is that now people are whipping out their phones to record all of the white peeps as they call the cops on… black children selling water, or black folks enjoying a barbeque, or black students taking a nap in a dorm common room, or black folks simply existing and minding their own business, which seems to trigger these people to no end.
So here’s something that doesn’t shock me in the least: BBQ Beckys and Permit Pattys will even pull this sh-t on FAMOUS black people. Ving Rhames is a national treasure, one our greatest actors and by all accounts, a lovely guy. He was minding his own business, entering his own home… and one of his white neighbors called the cops on him.
While discussing racism with the host of SiriusXM’s The Clay Cane Show on Friday, Mission: Impossible – Fallout star Ving Rhames revealed an incident in which police responding to an alleged burglary held Rhames at gunpoint in his Santa Monica home. “This happened this year,” the actor recalled. “I open the door and there is a red dot pointed at my face from a 9-mm, and they say, ‘Put up your hands.’ Literally.” After he was taken outside, the situation was only defused after one of the responding officers recognized Rhames. Not from his work in movies like Pulp Fiction, but as a parent whose son also played basketball. Their son’s respective high schools had previously squared off in a game.
The incident scared Rhames, not just for his own safety, but for that of his child. “What if it was my son and he had a video game remote or something, and you thought it was a gun,” he mused. “Just like, I don’t know, Trayvon had a bag of Skittles.” According to police, Rhames says, a neighbor had called 911 to report a “large black man” breaking into the actor’s home. When police escorted Rhames to the neighbor’s house to clear things up, she denied placing the call.
It’s chilling to think that Ving is absolutely right about his “what if” scenario. What if his son had answered the door? His son could have been holding a phone, or a spatula, or a scarf. And the cops would have shot first and asked questions never, because that’s the way it works. As for this: “When police escorted Rhames to the neighbor’s house to clear things up, she denied placing the call.” When white people get f–king caught doing this bullsh-t, they usually cry, they usually lie, they usually pretend they didn’t do that sh-t. They knowingly called the cops on a black person, because they know that the second you bring armed-to-the-teeth police officers in that situation, there’s a higher probability that the black person will be shot and likely killed. Yet they’re too f-king fragile to admit it and own their white supremacist bullsh-t.
"White women have weaponized their fear and discomfort in otherwise peaceful situations for centuries." https://t.co/T3aoojRuQu #WhiteSupremacy #WhitePrivilege #BBQBecky #PermitPatty pic.twitter.com/Fqp3wCjuNx
— Northland Centers (@NFPCenters) July 24, 2018
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
Wait, how can the neighbor deny making the call? I thought all 911 calls could be traced?
Society is just a mess
911 calls are traced and instead of admitting she made a mistake, she lied. His neighbor is an a$$hole.
There is a decent chance it’s a public record! FOIA that ish and dox her! Actually, I am anti that, but I sure wish she hadn’t been such a jerk. So you made a mistake, own it and apologize.
So she should be charged. Every single one of these white people making fraudulent 911 calls should be charged. In fact we should do class action lawsuits against each of them for misuse of our tax dollars.
I agree. There HAS to be consequences for criminal behavior- to manipulate our protective services, AKA, the police- this is CRIMINAL. To cause another’ s duress is also a punishable crime- i’d LOVE his neighbor to pay a million dollar fine that he’d donate to an awesome charity.
she can deny it all she wants, but people are able to get recordings of 911 phone calls. she’s just mad/upset that, like these other racist pr*cks, she got called out on her racism.
FFS, what burglar is going to open the door for the cops?! how f*cking stupid/poorly trained are these police men/women?
That’s what I was thinking. Why would someone whose robbing ( a crime ) someone home open the f***ing front door to the cops. That didn’t dawn on the police.
HELLO 911? THERE’S A LARGE BLACK MAN IN A LARGE BLACK MAN’S HOUSE. PLEASE SEND HELP.
BBQ Betty told a black family that they shouldn’t have their barbecue in an area where having a barbeque wasn’t permitted but that they should move into that BBQ-permitted area.
It is actually quite annoying when you are in a public park and minding your own business and then somebody thinks he or she should start a BBQ with fire and smoke next to you. There are areas where you can do your BBQ but don’t just go into any place and pester the air with your BBQ.
My heart really goes out to African Americans. They are in a situation that to me as european seems so scary and hopeless.
As an American woman of color based in Europe, I can tell you this absolutely occurs in Europe too. It’s just that responding officers don’t always have guns. Sadly these engrained prejudices, biases, and stereotypes are not isolated to the US.
Well, racism definitely occurs but while people of colour definitely get controlled more and maybe might get arrested or tackled I can’t imagine the police shooting someone like it has happened multiple times in the U.S. I think the commenter didn’t mean that racism doesn’t happen but that gun and police culture is so different. In my city a police officer was fired for kicking a criminal on the leg after tackling him and using a racially charged swear word on him, quite a difference from cops no being fired for killing innocent people.
If anything I’ve always found racism far worse in Europe. Americans at least are hyperaware of racism.
The racism is definitely here in Europe … the difference is you don’t get killed because of it, just harassed. Which is unfortunate and unfair, but a long way from being shot on sight
I’m Latina and have lived in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. I found racism to be the worst in Latin America. Racist and classist things are said and done openly. I found Europe (Italy and Spain to be quite racist). People routinely throw bananas at black soccer players in Europe.
I find it least racist here in the U.S., but I think the proliferation of guns and the militarization of the police makes it more dangerous. At this point I think there is racism everywhere and just a lot of bad and ignorant people. When you throw in a bunch of guns and fear bad things happen.
I think Jesma and Snazzy are spot on. I think racism is more widespread and a part of just general culture and outlook in much of Europe, but the US police gun violence towards minority groups is unique to the US and obviously scarier repercussion wise.
Totally agree, Jesma!
A lot of overt racism has also been pushed out of the general mainstream – at least to the extent where it gets called out now, even if 45 is emboldening the worst of them again. The problem with America is that most of its racism is systemically encoded into our socioeconomic structures. The insidious, long-term racial disparities (poverty, lack of health care, unequal justice systems) are the kind of underground violence that is killing non-white Americans.
Try Asian countries, their racism is out of this world. You see them covering their nose once they sight a black human. It’s quite shameful. Even taxis won’t stop to pick you.
I’m not sure there’s any nations free from racism, to an outsider a nation that is almost or even entirely one “colour” still has internal racism. In Scotland where I used to live and Northern Ireland the fact that Protestants and Catholics are the same colour has not mattered at all for the last 500 odd years.
In Australia where I live now, people of colour, particularly Aboriginal people and those from the Horn of Africa, are far more likely to be stopped, arrested and assaulted by cops than white people. Some have died at the hands of police and our beat cops are armed but there’s no all pervasive gun culture here so it’s far lower than in the US even though I’d say we’re more racist if anything than America is, certainly not any less.
In many places, beat cops aren’t armed with guns and in few places is the entire populace equally armed making the cops edgy on that front as well as the racism one.
TL:DR it’s racism and guns that make the US particularly dangerous for anyone without a melanin deficiency.
How does a person across the street not know who lives in the house? For safety reasons, I know who all my surrounding neighbors are, even if I don’t personally meet them. Even if there is a stranger in the neighborhood I watch that person’s actions to make sire there is nothing fishy going on. This is the result of what Trump is doing with the border and and not condemning the actions of the white supremist groups.
That’s what I don’t get. Wouldn’t they at least know who he is? And wasn’t he likely just unlocking the door and going inside like normal? I’m guessing he didn’t smash a window or something to enter his own home. It’s insane.
If you read the full story it’s even worse. Ving had let his two bulldogs out to play in the backyard and was sitting in the couch shirtless watching TV when he was thought to be intruder.
seriously…how do you not know that VING MF-ING RHAMES is your neighbor?
That too!
My neighbors secret themselves away for the most part; it’s a very garage doors down kind of place (although they seem to socialize privately with one another). I know roughly who they are but I only know some of them by face.
But I agree, who the heck doesn’t know VING RHAMES is their neighbor?
Like someone else said, she was hoping he’d get shot. Name and shame the worthless racist.
That woman is a POS to be sure. I live in the city and don’t know most of my neighbors, but I sure as hell would know if I lived next to Ving Rhames! And I sure as hell wouldn’t call the cops on anyone for just entering their home, whether I knew them or not! The only time I called the cops on neighbors was when I heard a woman’s bloodcurdling scream and saw her boyfriend screaming at her and smashing her phone to the sidewalk. I was ready and waiting for the police to call me back if they needed to (and per the law here, they would have to, if they couldn’t arrest the guy on other grounds). Luckily a few others called, and all kind of met up at the same time. We were able comfort her and sort of physically surround her protectively while we waited for the police (the rage monster boyfriend was back inside).
I doubt that she assumed he would get shot. If she is white, that wouldn’t really occur to her because it’s not a big risk for her. A financially comfortable white person calls the police when something unusual happens without thinking that anybody is going to get killed.
The racism comes into play when she thought that a big black guy using his key to open the door didn’t belong there. I doubt that she would have called 911 if a big white guy was doing the same.
Maybe even if she knew some famous movie actor lived there, she didn’t know what he looked like (I didn’t know who he was myself, I don’t watch movies very much).
I was thinking the same thing. I first read the headline as “entertaining in his own home” and I was like, “wow, that’s super sh**ty.” When I realized it was “ENTERING”… I mean, it’s just mind-boggling.
I mean, I dont know al my neighbours. But if I saw someone enter a house I wouldnt automatically assume that it must be someone “breaking in” either.
Especially if they are unlocking the door with a damn key !
I live in a small block of apartments, there’s 6 all up. I think most have 2 people living in them. I would only recognise 2 or 3 people if I ran into them in the street. A bad experience many years ago left me very wary about getting to know my neighbours. That said unless I saw an obvious actual *break* in I wouldn’t be assuming criminal behaviour. Even if I saw someone break a window I’d still probably enquirer to ensure they hadn’t just locked themselves out. Safer to do that here because burglars aren’t at all likely to kill you.
I don’t know what pisses me off more –
The racist neighbor calling the cops in the first place, because obviously there’s no way a BLACK MAN could have real estate in the same zip code as them, right? Or the absolute gutlessness of denying you made the call in the first place because you were too chickenshit to own up to what you did. Like, you’re all too willing to bet that the cops are going to shoot first and ask questions later, but you don’t want to actually take responsibility for it or anything.
The way these people knowingly use the police as a weapon against POC is disgusting, and the arrogance with which they do it is bloodcurdling. They KNOW what they’re saying and doing when they make those threats, they’re willing to gamble with people’s live when they do it and the reason they are doing it more now is because they know they have a lot more space to do it. So far, only one of the people who has pulled this BS has suffered any degree of consequence – the rest just got to walk away and none of them was even charged with knowingly wasting police time (that I know of). I’m willing to bet that of the same neighbor made an identical call a month from now, he’d be facing the same situation.
As a white woman, I can tell you these white permit pattys don’t actually think that they are weaponizing police. They are bluelivesmatter types who think all police are flawless and anyone shot by them deserves it.
They are blind about their racism. They are the types that believe there is no racism.
As disgusting as it is, I think that’s largely true, Rapunzel. White privilege at its ‘finest.’
I once called the police when I saw a guy energetically using a slim jim on a car, but as I remember locking myself out of my car once and a friend doing the same routine with a slim jim for me so I didn’t have to call someone, I called the police and said someone appears to need assistance with a lockout. I was worried that the police might be aggressive and not helpful, but I also wondered if the car was being broken into (which had happened a bunch in our neighborhood).
I dunno. I think these people who call on their neighbors, on people just using spaces (perhaps not as they’re intended to – I think sleeping was not allowed in that college study space, but that’s stupid and definitely not call the cops on your fellow student) but not breaking the law… stop calling the police. Don’t escalate.
I don’t buy that. There are documented videos of white women specifically screaming at Black people about this, saying who do you think they’ll believe and threatening that Black folks will be shot. Many do know. It’s how it’s always been in this country. Look at the white woman who got Emmett Till murdered. Fifty years later she admits she made the whole thing up.
I know, it’s insane and the lack of consequences is outrageous. Are you talking about the pool guy who lost his job? Other than that, I’m not aware of anyone being held accountable in any real way.
I *think* the ones who do it under “corporate protection,” like Starbucks, CVS, etc, are the only ones that face some sort of consequences (and not always termination, quite frankly), but we all know that’s more about bottom line than civil rights.
Permit Patty got her ass handed to her in the public eye and had to resign from her business due to all the companies that dropped her. Poetic justice.
It should be a misdemeanor to report a false “crime”– that would make people think twice about making phone calls to harass others. Selling water on a public sidewalk is not a crime, bbqing in a public park is not a crime, fouling someone on the basketball court is not a crime. Did their parents not teach these busybodies these things? Also, do police not have better things to do than to appear at every false “crime” scene? Police won’t even investigate stolen phones with GPS tracking or stolen funds of less than $1,000. Why are they appearing in cases of women complaining about someone napping?
And wouldn’t campus security be the proper avenue for a rule violation?
Mrs. Busybody should be ashamed of herself. And she obviously hasn’t seen Pulp Fiction.
Millions of Americans effectively live in a police state already because they are people of color. That is political.
Police need to prosecute these frivolous calls.
This!! When does this start happening? a hefty fine for these types of calls. Something. White folx calling the cops like it’s customer service and they want to speak the manager!
I agree. Several hours of community service working with at-risk youth, preferably children of color. and a VERY HEFTY fine.
I think the price of the fine should be the value of the house they live in.
HONESTLY. SERIOUSLY. Why are DAs not bringing charges for 911 abuse? In this case, the caller LIED about making the report even though it was traced to her. How is this not punishable?
Even if ultimately these cases are dismissed, just bringing charges might serve as a powerful deterrent to the BBQ Becky of the world. It may also cost them some real money in bail, hiring an attorney, and lost wages. IMHO, that does not make up for harassing POC for living their lives, but it might help some of these morons understand why you only call 911 for emergencies, not because you do not like the way someone looks or the perfectly legal things they are doing.
I know these people don’t think about the consequences but I can’t stop thinking about how I would feel if I had called the cops on a POC for minding their own business and if that person was shot and killed for nothing. And I was the one who made that call to the police.
It’s too early for this nonsense.
A few years ago, I was walking near the downtown Houston courthouses when a black woman walking in front of me suddenly fainted. I and another (white) woman immediately went to her aid and called 911. While we waited for the paramedics to arrive, the fainting victim started to revive a bit and told us that she had fasted for a doctor’s appointment that morning so her blood sugar was low. She was clearly disoriented and struggling to move and remain conscious. While the other woman stayed with her, I ran to a nearby store and bought her a bottle of juice. When I returned, the cops and paramedics were there assisting her, but the other woman had stayed to observe and explain the situation to the first responders. A paramedic happily gave the patient the juice to drink, and she started to look a bit better and talk coherently.
One of the cops interviewed the other woman and me about what had happened to make sure that it was a true medical emergency and not the aftermath of a crime. I distinctly remember him asking me if I knew the sick woman (I did not) and what had prompted me to get her some juice. I told him that she had complained of low blood sugar, and I knew from my dad being diabetic that juice was a quick way to boost sugar levels. He then said something I will never forget, “That was really kind. Most people would have called us, but the two of you stayed and made sure she was safe until we got here. Sometimes we show up and we have no clue what is going on or why someone called us.” Something about the way he talked to me really hit me hard. I immediately felt like if the other woman and I had not been there to talk to the cops and paramedics, things could have gone very, very badly for the sick woman. All the cops might have seen was an incoherent woman flailing on the sidewalk and unable to respond to their instructions/questions. The officers could have reacted by tasing her or worse, and they would have had a reasonable argument for doing so. Alternatively, if the people who stopped to help her had not been white, who knows how the cops would have responded? It scared me to my very bones that one other woman and I likely got her the prompt medical care she desperately needed but also may have been the reason she did not get ignored, mistreated, or killed. In fact, my heart still races when I think about that incident.
So whenever I read about the latest Coupon Carl or Pool Patrol Patty, I automatically feel both furious and queasy. These people do not understand how their petty reports put real, live, innocent POC in unnecessary danger. They have no clue how real white privilege is.
Amazing story.
I remember getting slapped in the face with my white privilege when I was about 22-23 years old.
A young woman collapsed at a bus station I was waiting at, clearly on some sort of drug, and a bunch of us gathered around her to help. Somebody started digging through her purse to find her phone, and we got in contact with her family. We got in contact with her family and learned she was a veteran suffering from drug addiction and PTSD and had been headed to the local veterans hospital. We didn’t want to call the police because she was on drugs because she may wind up charged with possession, so we told the mother on the phone that one of the men and I would take her on the bus and get her to the hospital.
The thing is, we were a diverse group – I was a white, and two others were helping me with her – a black man and woman. The black woman was the one who has gone to search for this phone in the purse. In all of this drama, you would think that would be the last thing on someone’s mind – but ANOTHER black man next to me suddenly said to me, “You better watch her. Make sure she doesn’t take anything.” The black woman (who was a grandmother!) just looked at him in disgust and told him off. But he kept talking to me, as though I was the one calling the shots in this group, as though I was the one who could be trusted with her safety. And I get, to some extent, that I was a woman, and the people on the phone probably weren’t thrilled about the idea of their drugged daughter traveling alone with a strange man, which is why I offered to go with the guy…
…BUT I WAS THE YOUNGEST ONE IN THE GROUP! The other two were coordinating much of the activity! There was no reason for them to be considered more or less trustworthy than I was, other than assumption made from the color of their skin. And worse, it was a BLACK MAN who said this to me. We’ve created a country where black skin is so criminalized, minorities don’t even feel like they can trust each other!
I was in shock, completely shaken by it. I couldn’t process it. But long after I helped the guy get the young woman to the hospital, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The implications of it. What it said about my whiteness, my place in this society, compared to the two black individuals who were equally helpful and kind but immediately suspect for it. That experience radically changed the way I looked at race in American society and really altered how I viewed my own privilege. I just wish I could shake the rest of America awake.
@ Veronica S.
Thanks for sharing your story. I am glad you seem to “get it”. Too bad so many others don’t.
Quick story: I am a white 38 year old woman. I work closely with a large black man, 67. Last month, this man and I went to a work conference together. He is big, but somewhat frail (bad back, hips). I walked ahead of him at the airport (he told me to go ahead because he wanted me to snag him a charging station by the gate. Halfway to the gate, a woman walking near comes up and tells me this black guy is following me and I should call security. Seriously? I told her he was my boyfriend and watched her eyes bug out.
Smdh…and what is the black guy following you going to do to you in the middle of a public airport? People are so damn ridiculous.
I love your response! Next time say he’s your father and watch her drop to the ground.
@ Rapunzel
Ha ha what a great response from you. That woman is a moron. It’s a f*cking airport…EVERYONE looks like they are following everyone lol.
Good you you!
But, is it bothersome that you told her he was your boyfriend, knowing that she would be bothered to hear your boyfriend was black? Not because he was older, but because of his race. It seems like you used racism as a weapon or something. It seems wrong.
At a moment like that you don’t ‘know’ all that much, save that you want to both protect your colleague and make it clear that you have no problem with him being associated with you.
It’s always easy with hindsight to criticise someone who was put on the spot and had to act quickly.
A few years ago I woke up to some shouting in the street. Looked out the window and saw 4 African American teens fighting. I recognized one as the boy from across the street and he was getting his butt kicked. I considered calling the police for a second but I knew they were most likely in more danger from the police than I would be from them. So I stamped out there and just started yelling at them threatening to call. They hopped in a car and took off and my neighbor limped into his house. His mother called the next day and thanked me for not only stopping the fight but specifically for not calling the police. I can’t believe my first thought after “call the police” is “no the police might kill them”. And I can’t believe I was lucky enough to yell at kids still scared of an older lady in her robe.
I cant even imagine. I’ve seen first hand how racist cops can be, but nothing on the level you’re talking about. My heart breaks for the state of society when anyone is forced to fear cops that much.
My sister and I were actually discussing that after we saw “Get Out.” The most clever and potent scene in that movie is where the main protagonist’s friend shows up to save the day – except it’s not a victorious moment because he shows up in a *police car.* All of us watching had the same thought – black man surrounded by white bodies is about to get himself shot/arrested/etc. And it’s brilliant for two reasons: 1.) because it forces a predominantly white audiences to experience the fear and anxiety non-whites feel around police, 2.) it reveals the implicit racism of a white audience who absolutely understand the implications of that scene but refuses to apply it to a real world scenario. People who cheered for Daniel Kaluuya taking out the white villains of the film will easily transition to a world where they can deny racism and police brutality and never question that dichotomy for a second.
They probably had open warrants and/or regal drugs or weapons. Hence, the real reason they didn’t want cops called.
Or, OR they were teens who simply didn’t want to get arrested…????? Why assume drugs, weapons, and/or criminal past was involved…?
@Honey Bear careful, your racism is showing
Or maybe they didn’t want to get shot & killed. @Honey Bear did you even read the post? Do you not watch the news? To be black in America and have the police kill you for doing such simple things as watching tv in your own home? Have a permit in an open carry state and letting the cop know where it is. Or how bout the cop asks you for your licenses and shots you as you get it for them.
@Honey bear
Oh please. If they were a bunch of white kids would you assume the same thing? The mother knew her son (though he was the one getting beat up) would have also been arrested just for being a victim ! White kids get a “warning”…Black kids get arrested or shot.
@Honey bear, you really should have checked yourself before typing some ignorant sh*t like you just did. This isn’t the Daily Heil with a bunch stupid, low-information deplorables who can’t think and reason with sensitivity and intelligence about America’s social problems. You’ve clearly stereotyped those teenagers as thugs, and your comment is clearly racist. Calling the police like Veronica S. said below would have been #attemptedmurder.
WTF @honeybear. Eff you.
Well HoneyBear is waving her big old Racist sign over her head for all to see
Wrong site bitch, I think you meant to post on daily fail
Chris Rock once said before his divorce that in the neighbourhood he lived in it was mainly white dentists, doctors. Meaning Chris had to be a celebrity to afford that area while the white people had regular jobs.
I think it’s the same with Ving’s area.
A significant majority of white people wouldn’t be able to afford that area, either. Those people can afford it with “regular” jobs because they likely inherited wealth from parents, which gave them the boost and connections needed to succeed at that level. This is not to say that I don’t understand Chris Rock’s point and the way African Americans have traditionally been barred from social mobility, but it does also highlight the ways in which racial division is used by the American elite to distract poor and working class white people from the reality of who is really creating economic oppression. if you can convince them to hate and blame brown people for their problems, you don’t have to worry about them coming after you with pitchforks.
Veronica YES you said it, 1200% distract distract distract from the real evil attacking our societies.
I’m in an argument right now with K-LOVE Christian radio station. Family friendly and encouraging is their tag line. They played a song called “Clean” and towards the end, there is a lyric that suggests being with Christ is to be white. I wrote them immediately on email….it took almost a week for them to get back to me. They included the links as to the song writer’s inspiration, which I had read before emailing just to be sure I had heard right. I emailed them back and said their response is not good enough, the song needs to be pulled or re-wrote so as to not imply that being with Christ is to be white. God so loved THE WORLD….and that includes us ALL. I agree, Veronica, this is the Elite using race as a distraction. Disgusting
Guest especially since Christ himself wouldn’t have been that white.
Chris Rock said it in his routine then followed by saying a black man has to fly where the white man can walk.
Santa Monica and all those canyons are filled with wealthy people and many entertainment people.
Those aren’t just “regular jobs” they have, those are wealthy white people that definitely aren’t middle class. You completely misunderstood his point.
Dentists and doctors typically have rather high incomes. I wouldn’t call those “regular jobs”.
Seriously she doesn’t know what her neighbors look like? I don’t talk to all my neighbors but I know who lives where I am. Also, Ving Rhames isn’t a random guy. Everyone knows what he looks like too.
His neighbor sucks
Said the same thing above. Not only that but I pretty much know all the cars of the houses around mine. But I live down in the subdivision where the only cars that come down here either live here or are visiting someone. Any time I see a strange car I am very aware of it.
I think we can start calling these for what they are – attempted murder. Everybody knows how dangerous calling the police on blacks in America is at this point. Doing so without truly verifying some sort of violent/dangerous/etc. crime is going on is just feigning ignorance.
Veronica; all of your comments here are perfection. From the Get Out reference, to attempted murder. When white folx threaten to call the cops or actually call the cops for minor infringements they know damn well that they are summoning danger.
This. Is. Intentional.
And anyone who wants to say it isn’t has their head in the mud. White folx/white women especially, weaponize their tears constantly when it comes to dealing with the police and POC.
Damn straight, Veronica S. and Little Darling. These “law and order” types seem to only care about enforcing the rules when POC are involved. They know what they are doing, and I must believe that they will get theirs. The wheel of karma turns slowly, but it always turns.
Thank you! #attemptedmurder And our tax dollars paying for it. I am scared every day in this country to the point my chest pain has come back again especially after the news of Nia Wilson.
There should also be consequences for ridiculous calls. Like bbqbecky…. if she couldn’t give a solid, reasonable reason for calling the police then fine her and give her community service. Recording and internet shaming hasn’t stopped these jerks.
Very well and succinctly said, Veronica S.
Unless she was hoping they would shoot him. One less black neighbor. Not a pretty thought.
Wow. Unbelievable. I can’t imagine the fear he must have gone through. Beyond the racist neighbor making the call, the way in which the police checked this out was terrifyingly aggressive and could have had a bad end for Ving.
The year started off with exposing rich powerful white men, and now it seems like middle class white women are being exposed too lol (I’m joking, not all are bad, but damn !)
According to another news source, this incident happened two years ago. Although it is still totally unacceptable that he had to do this in his own home/neighborhood, I wonder why nothing was ever reported about it then? Ms. Busybody should have been charged with making a false report.
I don’t think police really want to discourage people from calling 911 if something happens that could be a problem.
When I was a kid, my mom almost called the police once because she heard someone jiggling the front door knob in the wee hours.
Turned out to be the cat… He hadn’t come in when called and got tired of the great outdoors about 3am. He was tall enough to reach doorknobs and regularly did just that to open inside doors in our old house. This was his first attempt at the front door, though.
I think it’s a stretch to assume this woman was hoping he would be killed. And not everybody knows who he is and what he looks like. I didn’t. I wouldn’t recognize a lot of my own neighbors either. Racism was part of her reaction but not necessarily the malignant kind. Did she actually see him use the key, or did she notice afterward that someone was entering the house?
The way the police handled it seemed rather over the top, though. There have to be better ways of dealing with such situations. Did they even ask her on the 911 call if she was sure it wasn’t her neighbor?
The same thing happened to Henry Louis Gates at his home near Harvard University. Gates is one of the most distinguished history professors this country has – hell, he is probably the *only* famous history professor this country has – and the cop still arrested him, even after learning he lived in the house a neighbor saw him breaking into.
I lived 2 blocks away from Gates when that happened. I remember thinking “this isn’t a race issue, it’s a class issue.” Meaning, the Cambridge PD is just so sick of getting attitude from the Harvard students/professors who are using their smarts and money to torment the cops. Now, almost 10 years later I think the best thing we can say about that situation is “at least the cops didn’t immediately use weapons.”
I can’t believe it’s been nearly 10 years. I vaguely remember the story when it happened, and I had a much different opinion about it than I do now. And yes, part of me thinks Gates is lucky to be alive, which makes me a little sick to my stomach.
There is another case of police overreaction that has stayed with me for years. A grandfather from India was partially paralyzed after the police in Alabama tackled him when someone called to report him for suspicious behavior. The poor man’s life was permanently changed because he had the gall to for an innocent walk in his grandson’s neighborhood. The Alabama AG (Luther Strange, endorsed by Donald Trump) ultimately dismissed charges against the officer and he went back to work.
At least in the case with Gates, I can kind of see how that happened. They were two men with backpacks on that really were “breaking in” – they had to jimmy the lock to get it open because it was broken. Whalen’s 911 call shows that she did stress that she hadn’t really gotten a good look at the men and that they could have been legitimate residents who were just having problems with the door. It was the police that really took it too far – the moment Gates showed them his information, they should have left and arrest shouldn’t have even come into the discussion.
This neighbor is just a piece of work all around. Rhames wasn’t doing anything wrong or suspicious. Except even more frightening because the police are even more aggressively violent here – they had their guns out even before the situation is assessed. Literally the definition of irresponsible for firearm handling.
This nonsense truly needs to stop. Why POC can’t be allowed to just exist and live their lives is beyond me. You can’t even “Breath while black” without someone calling the cops to get you shot. There seems to be an agenda to get every young black men into the criminal justice system. Arrest them for any reason just so they can be fingerprinted and their names in the system. Crimes are committed by everyone, regardless of color, race, religion. But this nonsense that every black male is going to harm you in some way is nothing but pure racism.
People tend to forget that during Jim Crow/segregation, many police were members of the KKK. That’s how the KKK could get away with so much terrorisim. If you were black, calling the police was calling a Klan member. That distrust and fear of police has carried forward to today. Also, this stereotype of blacks as criminals also has its roots in segregation. The enslavement and incarceration of Black men was codified into law.
Highly recommend reading “Slavery by Another Name”. It’s an excellent book that discusses how laws were created specifically to fine and arrest black men so their “debt” could be sold to white businesses who would in turn use the men as forced laborers. It helps you understand where a lot today’s stereotypes and attitudes originated from.
https://amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/1531885330
Not to mention the role of early police units in maintaining Southern slave system.
I’m brown and live in an almost completely white neighborhood. The pressure is always there to make sure no loud sounds come from my house…to make sure everything outside is always neat and tidy…to make sure the damn TV isn’t too loud when the windows are open…to make sure nothing about us or our property looks “suspicious”. It’s exhausting.
🙁
And don’t want to have a get-together as millions of homeowners do…disturbing *these* neighbors sits in the back of your head as much as entertaining the guests…
I’m sorry
“Hello, operator? There’s a black man entering a nice house, living his life, and minding his own damn business. Please send SWAT.”
The story is bad enough, but the neighbor couldn’t even apologize? That tells me it was no mistake. I’d have been bending over backwards to make it up to the neighbors if I ever screwed up like that.
white women have been doing this ish for CENTURIES….. yal outta be ashamed of yourselves and your brethren and sistren SMDH
Oh believe me, some of us are.
I am
Ashamed
Deeply sorry
and beg your pardon
for unacceptable
behaviour
yeah, I saw a meme on FB the other day that was “you ever ‘WTF, white people’ and you ARE a white people?”
ALL. THE. TIME.
@ash: Yes, and do continue to divide and polarize people on the basis of race and hatred, suspicion, and grudging rage, b/c that is *so* clearly what an already divided, angry, injured country and ALL its people need…
FFS, how can you not know VING RHAMES is one of your neighbors?!
hmm.. I don’t know who Ving Rhames is nor have I watched any of his movies? Not all of us participate in popular culture? This is not a defense of the neighbour, btw. Just saying that the fact that he’s famous should not be such a big deal here..
He’s a movie actor, even if you didn’t exactly know who he was, I would think someone would have said “an actor lives over there.” But obviously not.
I find it very hard to believe that a person would live in the same neighborhood as someone is famous and well-known as Ving Rhames and not know that he lived there. If that person talked to any of their neighbors at all that person would know that a famous actor lived in the neighborhood.
my sister lived in a neighborhood with a couple of Seattle Seahawks players.
arguably less famous than Ving Rhames. she’s not a football fan AT ALL.
and yet, she knew the two huge black men in her neighborhood were professional football players, and THAT THEY LIVED THERE. so, yeah, the neighbor should have known.
This is the first time I’ve noticed his name or seen his picture. Hey, I watch cartoons. I know voice actors, not live-action ones.
It is quite possible for a neighbor to have no idea who the heck he is. Even if someone told her an actor lived there, unless a description was provided she still might not have any idea what he looked like if he keeps a different schedule than she does.
And in my area, neighbors are encouraged to pay attention to what is happening next door – it’s called Neighborhood Watch. There’s even a street sign up about it, warning bad dudes that people are watching and will call police. I’m pretty useless in the endeavor, though, especially since I keep vampire hours a lot. I would say a prerequisite for effective Neighborhood Watch is to actually know what your neighbors look like, though. I only recognize the dogs and cats. Except for the two who allegedly live across the street and bark a lot. I strongly suspect they are a recording…. 🙂 At least I never see them, only hear them.
Yes, particularly in LA where celebrity matters more than anything else.
My parents lived in LA and they knew which neighbours were famous, semi-famous, related to famous people and on down the line…
Who doesn’t know that a famous actor, Ving Rhames, is their neighbor?
That’s awful, and I can only imagine how terrifying that was. I love Ving. I remember when he won a Golden Globe years ago and how overtaken with emotions he was. One of his fellow nominees was Jack Lemmon and he called him up on stage, handing him his award because he felt Jack deserved it more. Jack was completely taken aback, promising to give his GG statue back to him. It was such an incredible, gracious moment and I’ve loved him even more than I already did ever since.
I remember that, too.
I remember that too. such a nice guy and class act.
“When white people get f–king caught doing this bullsh-t, they usually cry, they usually lie, they usually pretend they didn’t do that sh-t. They knowingly called the cops on a black person, because they know that the second you bring armed-to-the-teeth police officers in that situation, there’s a higher probability that the black person will be shot and likely killed. Yet they’re too f-king fragile to admit it and own their white supremacist bullsh-t.”
Kaiser, this is some of the realest sh*t you have said on this site!
I don’t think white supremacist is actually the right word in many cases. The kind of racism that was involved here does not necessarily have anything to do with thinking that one race is superior to another. More likely it’s the kind where fear and suspicion is exaggerated when “the other” is involved. I doubt this woman would have reacted the same way if the man had been white. She just wouldn’t have felt the same level of fear. She would have been more likely to assume that the guy owned the house or was a friend of her neighbor.
This is actually a more complicated problem and more difficult to get people past.
Can he sue her? She needs to pay in some way. She is a coward and a racist.
He better tell his neighbors to watch Holiday Heart or GI Jane & get familiar! JK JK
Hell, I’d feel safer if he was my neighbor, certainly not scared.
Also, don’t burgulars break in? I can only imagine he used a key to get in?! How does that look like a break in ?
I loved him in Baby Boy.
Or the #1 movie this past weekend “Mission Impossible “Fallout”
He does a commercial where he stands in the front lawn representing an alarm company. I don’t think this alarm works when you go inside!
It happened to Stormzy in London too.