Racial Profiling Goes Viral
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 17th, 2014
Good morning!
From CNN.
Hollywood couple stopped by police, say they were racially profiled
(CNN) – Hollywood actors Cherie Johnson and Dennis White say they were improperly stopped by police, put in handcuffs and harshly questioned during a recent weekend getaway in South Carolina. They claim the incident took place because of their race.
“It hurts me more that telling the story, other people are not surprised,” Johnson said in an interview on HLN’s” Showbiz Tonight” on Monday. “They’re not shocked about what we went through. So many people have gone through it, too. I don’t understand how come they haven’t fought it and how come they just let it go.”
Johnson, best known for her roles in TV shows “Punky Brewster” and “Family Matters,” and White, from the movie “Notorious,” are speaking out about their treatment by a Marion County sheriff’s deputy on September 22.
“I’ve been stopped by the police before, but I’ve never been fearful for my life,” Johnson said on Sunday. “They need some kind of sensitivity training.”
The Marion County sheriff issued a statement on Monday promising to investigate the allegations of racial profiling.
The couple, who were in the area after conducting an acting workshop in North Carolina, shared White’s account with freelance writer Krystol Diggs, who posted it to CNN iReport. CNN could not independently verify their account but spoke directly to Johnson and Diggs about the incident.
Johnson and White say they were on their way to Myrtle Beach for a quick romantic getaway when they pulled off the rural highway and parked by a cotton field. Johnson said she had never seen cotton before and told White she wanted to take a picture.
As the couple walked back to the car, they said, they noticed a police car with its lights on parked behind theirs. White and Johnson, who are both African-American, say the white officer harshly questioned them about drugs — he found none — and the cash he found in their bags.
Johnson was the national cheer representative for the Just Say No to Drugs campaign in the ’80s.
According to White’s account, Officer Shad Barfield told Johnson there was a warrant for her arrest, which she disputed, and the officer later recanted. He handcuffed White and then Johnson but did not arrest them.
“After he told me that I did not have a warrant for my arrest, and he started asking me about drugs for the third time, I said, ‘Are you doing this because we’re black?’” Johnson told HLN. “And that was when everything took a turn for the worst. He patted the car, he walked back to his car, he put on gloves. The next thing I knew, he was handcuffing Dennis.”
“He told me … I was being detained for his safety because he didn’t know me,” Johnson said.
“At this time I became distraught,” White wrote in his account of the incident. “I have been racially profiled several times in my lifetime but it touched my core when my woman was included.”
Marion County Sheriff Mark Richardson issued a statement on Monday in regard to the actors’ claims: “Discrimination in any form, including racial profiling, is strictly prohibited by this department and as Sheriff of Marion County SC, I can assure you I will take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the allegations of racial profiling made by Mr. White and Ms. Johnson. This matter will be dealt with by an internal investigation within the department and I will also ask the State Law Enforcement Division to review the allegation made against Deputy Barfield.”
It was Johnson’s first experience being handcuffed. Several of her family members work in law enforcement, Johnson said, adding that she’s “never been afraid of cops or had bad opinions of them.”
This time was different.
After thoroughly searching the car, the officer removed the handcuffs and let the couple go.
“No apology, no nothing,” White wrote.
White says he won’t stop talking about the incident until “that racist cop” is reprimanded and punished.
“We’ve been conditioned to just think that it’s OK — that we have to just sweep it under the rug,” White told HLN. “But we’re not doing that no more. We’re fighting.”
By Monday morning, the story had received nearly 700,000 views — making it the fourth most-viewed iReport of all time — and hundreds of comments about racial profiling and law enforcement in South Carolina and elsewhere. Many readers said they had experienced similar situations.
Actress Kinnik Sky was among those who shared the story on her Facebook page. Sky, who was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, said she knew White and Johnson’s account “to be absolutely true.”
“I was like, ‘Wow, boy can I relate,’ because I am fearful of the cops as a whole, especially in South Carolina. My experiences have always been horrible.”
The former “American Idol” finalist said whenever she returns from Los Angeles to her hometown she gets stopped by police “80% of the time” and questioned about drugs. On a recent trip she was “stopped, pulled over and questioned about every drug known to man,” she said.
What’s your reaction to White and Johnson’s story? Sound off on iReport
Her account is strikingly similar to what Johnson and White said they experienced. Johnson said she contacted Marion County for an incident report but was told that one was never filed. In the meantime, she’s voicing her views on Twitter and Facebook so others can know what she and White went through.
“I’ve always been a fan of speaking up and sharing your story,” Johnson said. “We’re way more powerful in numbers than we are alone.”
*****
Readers: I post these atrocities because the word needs to get out that racial profiling is still going strong. Not to mention…another unarmed black me got killed. Can racsim get any worse? Oh, yes it can. Until the community comes together and doesn’t stop screaming and protesting to bring about change, or people take matters into their own hands a la “Alycedale” style, the cops will continue to be thugs with guns.
Get the word out.
Thoughts? Blog me.
Peace & Love. We could sure use more of both don’t ya think?
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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September 17th, 2014 at 10:03 am
The idiot Ashleigh Banfield who anchors CNN’s “Legal View,” was discussing ISIS’s cult appeal. She failed to mention the most important draw to the young men.
The taped recruitment emphasized that the recruit would be rewarded with a “wife” ( meaning a woman forced to marry him for sex) or he could just “make sandwiches” (meaning he could just rape women captured when they take over a town).
The recruit was even told that if he died on the way to the recruitment camp he would receive his Ajr (75 wives for dying for Allah). ISIS is just another male cult that uses religion to justify subjugating women to force them to be sex slaves to men.
Only an idiotic white woman would miss that. Most men will do just about anything to satisfy that the little head in their pants.
How a woman could miss that is beyond me.
September 17th, 2014 at 10:12 am
I like it when Obama says we can’t do for Iraq what they must do for themselves.
September 17th, 2014 at 10:24 am
Alycedale#1, this white woman agrees with you. I found it absolutely inane for her not to recognize that point.
She missed that, but was quick to try to suggest that Obama was amiss for going to the base to meet the Commanders when as POTUS the commanders should come to him.
I was delighted to hear Barbara Starr put the idiotic in her place when she said he came to allay any concerns the families of the military that they would not have to worry about their loved ones being committed to ground warfare.
I’m starting to feel that some of my race will use any opportunity to try to make Obama look weak.
September 17th, 2014 at 10:49 am
Alycedale#1, you are so intelligent. I really admire your brains and your courage. When I listened to that recruitment tape I was appalled that while Menna was being told that the place he was coming to was so religious he could smoke cigarettes, it was okay to make “sandwiches” (rape women).
The incredible inept journalism was that while the CNN made an effort to interpret some of the arab meanings like Akhi meant brother, they never mentioned that a “sandwich” was sex with a woman.
If they had maybe a lot more of us would have understood the lure of the message.
September 17th, 2014 at 10:54 am
Alycedale#!, I agree with your assessment of how the poor woman handled that piece.
Even when she brought on Paul Cruicshank, “terror Analyst,” and asked him why the tape was as effective today as it was in the past, she never brought up the lure of sex.
One would expect the man to look over the fact that the males were being enticed by the fact that they were being provided with women they wouldn’t have to use social skills to attract.
But a woman not caring that women were being enslaved to provide sexual favors to the soldiers is shameful at the least.
September 17th, 2014 at 10:59 am
Damn, Alycedale#1, you miss nothing. I would love to meet you and learn how to butt fuck one of those sick men with a Lady Remington shoved up his ass.
I was fucking mad that the dimwit didn’t comment when the recruiter said “I will set you up with everything. I’ll have people pick you up, I’ll have a place for you to stay, and heck, if you want, I can have a wife waiting for you.”
Why didn’t she say “a wife waiting for you?” isn’t he promising him sex and couching it in saying “a wife waiting for you”?
September 17th, 2014 at 11:07 am
Alycedale#1, I can see why so many men on this blog hate you. You see through their bullshit. I wish I had the courage you have to shoot the bastards.
I pray so often for God to give me the strength to pull the trigger if I have to. I live in an open carry state. My best friend was raped a year ago. She had a gun but was too afraid to use it.
Her attacker took her gun out of her shaking hands and raped her. Then he fired it and stuck the hot barrel into her vagina.
She is so traumatized that she is afraid to leave the house. Her attacker still hasn’t been caught. He is suspected to have used her gun to seriously wound a woman who escaped when he tried to force his way into her into a car.
I bought a gun shortly afterwards and I have had some training on it use. I am very familiar with its operation and I have fired it dozens of times. I just hope I won’t freeze up like my friend did if I have to pull it for self defense.
How did you get to the place where you could shoot someone?
September 17th, 2014 at 11:10 am
The idiot thinks that “make sandwiches” means fighting. Even if she missed that how did she miss “have you a wife.”?
Since when do women marry on demand unless they are forced to? “What about the woman idiot?” I kept yelling at the screen.
September 17th, 2014 at 11:19 am
The ones who want to keep advising that Obama keep the option on the table for troops on the ground are the ones who just want to profit from their investments in military industrial stocks.
The 1% that own those stocks don’t care about the deaths of the women and men necessary to make that profit. They just want the profit.
Obama is standing firm on his position not to put boots on the ground because he wants to send a message to Iraq that if they don’t do it on the ground he will not send in Americans to die for their gutlessness.
September 17th, 2014 at 11:22 am
Zen Lill, I think that Tulsa has such a high rate because the men are treated as bread winners that the family can’t do without so he is not jailed.
When men know they will not be prosecuted seriously they will repeat that behavior.
September 17th, 2014 at 11:23 am
Peter of Guam are you aware that the earthquake was down graded to a 6.7?
September 17th, 2014 at 11:26 am
I am Irani. We are helping the Iraqi fight ISIS her in Iraq. Why are we being shunned by the US? I am a soldier who has seen many of my unit die in this conflict.
September 17th, 2014 at 11:30 am
Which Card is Safest — Debit or Credit?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Which card is safest to use — debit or credit — in a world where personal financial information seems less secure than ever?
Barely a week seems to pass without news of a hack attack on retailers and other companies that access the records of customers, including card details.
And then there are the everyday risks of card number theft we all face, from stolen wallets through skimming devices to spyware-infested PCs.
The basic fact is that when it comes to the risk of card details being stolen, both debit and credit varieties are equally vulnerable.
Whichever type of card you choose to mainly use for purchases is logically the one that’s the most likely to be compromised.
If crooks can get their hands on either of them, they’ll steal the information and use it or sell it.
But it’s what happens after the theft that can make a difference.
Here are 9 things you should know about them:
1. In law, a customer is usually only liable for the first $50 of fraudulent use of their stolen credit card number.
2. In practice, most credit card issuers and banks waive this liability and victims end up not having to cover any of the fraudulent use.
3. To get the same $50 protection with a debit card, the loss or theft must be reported within two days. Again, some banks may waive this $50 too — but fewer than with credit cards.
4. After two days, debit card users may be liable for up to $500 of fraudulent use within the first 60 days.
5. If a debit card theft or fraudulent use is reported later than 60 or sometimes 90 days, the liability faced by the customer can be open-ended.
6. With a credit card, any fraudulent payments are usually credited back into the victim’s account within a few hours of notification, meaning most victims don’t have to cover the misuse because the refund usually happens before the bill payment falls due.
7. With a debit card, it can take two weeks or even longer for a bank to investigate fraudulent use and re-credit the cash, during which time the sums involved may be missing from the victim’s account — perhaps even forcing them into an overdraft situation.
8. Debit cards are normally linked directly to the victim’s bank account. If the thief also has access to the card’s PIN number, he or she will be able to entirely drain the account almost immediately.
9. Many credit card issuers will send you a daily account alert if you order one so you can spot discrepancies. This can be more difficult or not even available for bank-account-linked debit cards.
So on financial risk and liability, a credit card is a better bet. Plus, credit cards often offer damage or theft insurance on items purchased with the card and they tend to offer better dispute rights with merchants.
If you must use a debit card, the two-day reporting deadline for fraud and the risk of your account becoming overdrawn through fraudulent cash withdrawal underline the importance of frequently checking your bank and card accounts.
A word of warning though: Don’t forget that credit cards do call for a higher level of self-discipline than debit cards.
With debit cards, your spending is generally limited to how much cash you have in your account. With credit cards you can spend money you don’t have — and that can land you in trouble.
Credit cards may protect you better against theft but it’s up to you to protect yourself from spending unwisely with them!
Are Virtual Cards a Solution?
One of the ways to protect yourself against card number theft when shopping online is to use a virtual or temporary card number.
These are one-off credit card numbers provided by some issuing banks for individual or recurring transactions.
Interestingly, the number of financial institutions offering this service appears to be declining, though we can’t say why.
American Express stopped their service years ago and, this year, Discover quit offering them. Among institutions still offering the service (at the time of writing) are Bank of American and Citibank — though there may be others.
It’s also possible to find software products that offer what they call “masked credit card numbers.”
In this case, you provide the software company with your card number and, when you make online purchases, the company actually makes the payment itself on your behalf, using a virtual card number, and then they charge your card, keeping the number to themselves.
You can use the number for more than one transaction if you wish, setting a limit for the total amount to be charged.
These software firms may make an additional charge for this service.
If you use one of these services, however, it’s important find out three things:
1. Will they let you stipulate a limit for the transaction?
2. Could a crooked merchant alter the charge allocated to that number?
3. If the number is used fraudulently in this way, are you still protected by the $50 limit discussed above?
Find the answers to these questions from the providers before deciding whether to use this service.
An alternative is to use online payment services like PayPal (there are several others too).
They also hold your card number — debit or credit — so the merchant you buy from never sees it, nor has it on their system, meaning it won’t be compromised if the merchant’s system is hacked. However, PayPal can also have disadvantages, so check your options carefully.
Of course, there is always the possibility that the payment or masked card service could be hacked, although they usually employ the highest levels of security.
Spyware on your PC may also hijack your PayPal account details and drain your account that way.
Let’s face it; cash and checks are on the way out. Cards and, in the near-future, cellphones and virtual currencies, will be the payment method most us will be using.
Our security will be in the hands of others but, whether you’re using a debit or credit card, best-practice security still begins with you.
Alert of the Week: We’re seeing a huge increase in the incidence of an old favorite scammers’ trick — caller ID spoofing.
As we explained in an earlier issue, spoofing is used to mislead victims into thinking an incoming phone call is from a legitimate source. Learn more here:
http://www.scambusters.org/callerid.html
Simply don’t assume that a caller is who your ID service says it is. If you don’t recognize the voice, don’t give confidential information or agree to pay anything without independently checking.
September 17th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
#15 Jamie, yesterday & #10 Miranda today, thank you, both answer the question … thank you for filling me in … as an aside in any town/city/state …
unfortunately, many women drop charges on their abusers; for a variety of reasons, the scared bc it’s life and death and they know it, and others w/abuse in their upbringing (and def in the abusers’) think it’s about love and being there for your damaged goods partner somehow. & Abusers set the stage for that indoctrination very well usually and that is the frightening part about abuse …
I’ll have to go catch that wives and sandwich segment w/Ashleigh…
Luv, ZL
September 17th, 2014 at 1:12 pm
The couple in today’s post were in fact having sex in the car. In the open air, in public, with their car door open too. They may have been raciallly profiled, that’s a given, but it’s not out of normal thinking to assume, based on pictures that she might have been a prostitute -having sex in the open. Just saying.
http://happyplace.someecards.com/celebrities/yeah-the-arrested-django-unchained-actress-was-indeed-having-sex-in-her-car-with-the-door-open/
September 17th, 2014 at 5:52 pm
First we don’t know if that is what is being said happened did. But even if it did. The reason she was thrown into the back seat of the police car?
And the real reason the white man wasn’t handcuffed? And if the cop really thought they were fucking in the open, then he would have arrested her to protect his own ass.
September 17th, 2014 at 6:04 pm
My wife is black and I am white. Every time we were out with a another white couple kissing or necking, we were the ones stopped and my wife was the one accused of being a prostitute.
Why do you think? Could it be that because I am white the those racists bastards and stereotyping bigots like you believe that the only condition I would be with a black woman necking is if she was a prostitute.
Just saying.
September 18th, 2014 at 7:14 am
John#15, eh, the couple in today’s post were both black. Did you bother to read the article before you rushed to defend the police?
Just saying.
September 18th, 2014 at 7:18 am
John#15, White apologists are quick to cite inrelevant matter to counter racism by their white bigots with badges. But this one is way over the top. Did you even bother to read the article?
The name of the woman in this article is Cherie Johnson, not Daniel Watts.
“Just saying.”
September 18th, 2014 at 7:42 am
John#15, before you say anything it would be wise to make sure it is about the topic you are citing. The couple in the above article were looking at cotton not humping in a car.
But like most racists it doesn’t matter what the particular black is being accused of, he/she is being charged in the racist white mind with whatever crime they image any black has done. After all blacks are not human beings with the individualities of such.
In the racist minds they are just a collection of stereotypes. Hence if one did something somewhere, they all, as a race, are guilty of it, or would do it.
Oh,don’t take this as an admission that you were correct in your assumption of the event you erroneously cited as the one in this article.
Your assumptions bring up a whole new set of issues that white racists like you use to justify your bigotry. This is especially true of those who tell others and sometimes themselves that they are not racists or bigots.
Your assumption that the report was true implies that you are inclined to believe that a black actress would fuck in public in broad daylight. I can guarantee if she were a white actress of the same statue in the motion picture industry, your first inclination would be to say “No way an actress would be doing that in public. in broad daylight”
But since the lady in question was black, you immediately assumed she would. That is the reason racists with badges know they can get away with the lame excuses they use to justify their barbarism towards OTWs.
They know that a white jury will instinctually accept the worst about blacks, when they would not accept that same story about a white person. Hence in reality you were not “just saying,” rather you were, JUST SHOWING your white racist subconscious attitude that you think whites are better than OTWs because no decent white actress would do such a thing.
September 18th, 2014 at 7:59 am
John#15, I’ve been reading some of the comments to you. The first two through me off. I was screaming in my head, “Why are they entertaining that idiot? That isn’t the same article.”
I read on and noticed more astute readers caught your inane reference to the article Michelle posted. By now if you know how stupid you appear while attempting to be logically defending the behavior of that racist cop in the article you cited.
My question to you is, if the officer thought sex for money had occurred, why wasn’t the male under arrest? If he was not going to take the male in just who was he going to accuse her of having had sex for money with?
And if you weren’t a white man would you have accepted the cop’s assumption that the woman was the prostitute? Could it be because she was black? Just saying.
September 18th, 2014 at 7:59 am
My question is why did the cop assume it was prostitution? If it were a white couple, he may have been inclined to charge them (by that I mean both) with lewd public conduct a far cry from accusing someone of being a prostitute, but he certainly wouldn’t have insulted a white woman with that accusation.
You on the other hand were perfectly at ease with that assumption by the cop. Why because whites with their superiority complex immediately assume the worst about blacks. You are a typical example of your race.
Just saying.
September 18th, 2014 at 8:18 am
Finally some sensible talk about marijuana:
—————–
“Like most Americans, Ms. Dowd has probably seen countless silly anti-marijuana ads on TV, but she has never seen one that highlights the need to ‘start low and go slow’ when choosing to consume marijuana edibles,” Tvert said.
With edibles, it takes longer to feel the effects of THC, marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, which can lead people to eat too much, then being hit hard by serious side effects that include delirium and psychosis.
“If you smoke (marijuana) it’s in your brain almost immediately. So, the effects start very rapidly.
You can have an edible and not feel much right away. Up to an hour or two hours, three hours later you can start feeling the effects. It’s slower onset, and it lasts longer,” said Paula Riggs, director of the division of substance dependence at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Colorado state regulators are looking into stricter requirements for marijuana edible manufacturers that include better labeling and limiting each package to a single dose, about 10 milligrams of THC. Currently, marijuana dispensaries are selling recreational pot products that contain up to 100 milligrams of THC in a single candy bar.
Tvert said he hopes people see the billboard and take the time to really educate themselves about marijuana edibles. The billboard directs people to the campaign’s website, consumeresponsibly.org, which has information about marijuana laws, products and their effects, including negative effects like “increased heart rate and a sense of paranoia.”
Campaign organizers also plan to put out print and online ads, along with educational materials in marijuana dispensaries.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/17/us/colorado-marijuana-edibles-billboard-maureen-dowd/index.html?hpt=us_c2
September 18th, 2014 at 9:02 am
[…] John: Perhaps before you address the article you should actually read the article. The couple you are referring to is not the couple that is in the write that I posted. Just saying… […]