[ Editor’s note: This is just too interesting not to post on VT as a classic human time capsule of what we have become…and not.
A nine-year-old little black boy with his mother and sister accidentally brushed the butt of a wrapped-too-tight Brooklyn young white woman in a corner grocery store. She immediately drops a dime on the kid by calling 911 to report a sexual assault.
But to goose the story to increase the chances of getting a patrol car dispatched, she claims she is a police officer – a bit strange because if she were, then there was already one at the scene to arrest the kid and sentence him to life in prison.
The video does not capture all of what transpired. To her credit, when shown on the store video that the boy did just brush her butt with his bag when he turned, she did go on social media and apologized, but was savaged, “shamed”.
The black writer of this story (riding the wave himself) thinks this woman should be charged for making a false accusation, impersonating a police officer, and/or for child annoyance, because on the impersonating an officer, such a charge would have given her a longer lasting memory of the event.
As for prosecuting her for being stupid, if that got cranked up, we all would be assigned a stupid prisoner to house (for compensation of course) as there would be too many for the jails to hold.
If she isn’t charged for anything, could that mean that the authorities are too worried about inciting a riot between polarized activist groups? Let us know in the comments. My comment is that stupid people are already serving a life sentence inside their own bodies, and that might be punishment enough. . . Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … 17 October 2018 –
If we’ve learned nothing else from the myriad incidents in which white people have called police on black people who were engaging in everyday activities, we’ve learned that African Americans have come to depend on laughter to cope with racism.
Laughter, after all, is the only reasonable response to those who would call law enforcement when a family barbecues with charcoal instead of gas, or when a child sells water without a permit, or when a boy inadvertently touches a woman with his backpack, or when a man tries to enter the building where he lives.
Black folks understand that, in many cases, these kinds of calls are driven by the racist assumption that blacks do not belong in white spaces, or by the harmful biases that assume black criminality. But, … we’ve learned to chuckle at these kinds of slights — even going so far as to give our tormentors nicknames like Cornerstore Caroline, Permit Patty, or Barbecue Becky.
Beneath the laughter, however, is the potential for danger, because when such people are entering our homes, denying us access, even shooting us in our own apartments, black lives are at stake.
And if we truly want these incidents to stop, the perpetrators must be prosecuted for the crimes they commit when they make false police reports, harass law-abiding citizens, or make terroristic threats.
It’s no longer enough to shame them on social media. If they don’t face real criminal consequences, they’ll continue until someone is killed.
And that’s not hyperbole. Inviting police into a benign situation involving a black person is dangerous, because an unarmed black person is 2.5 times more likely than his white counterpart to be shot and killed by police. Even without the police, there is an innate danger when whites make accusations against blacks, since not so long ago, such accusations often led to a death sentence through lynching.
That’s what I thought about when I watched the video of a white woman named Teresa Klein calling the police on a black boy who she claimed had just sexually assaulted her at the Sahara Deli Market in Brooklyn . . .
http://www2.philly.com/philly/columnists/solomon_jones/cornerstore-caroline-teresa-klein-permit-patty-barbecue-becky-racism-america-20181016.html
Solomon Jones is the author of 10 books, including his latest novel, The Dead Man’s Wife (Minotaur Books), and the humor collection Daddy’s Home: A Memoir of Fatherhood and Laughter. The married father of three has been featured on NPR and CNN and has penned columns on parenting for national magazines like Essence. He created Words on the Street, a program that helps students and parents improve literacy. His column appears Tuesdays in the Daily News. More at Solomonjones.com.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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What puts Caroline in the “psych eval” corner, is that she egregiously assumes intent of a child. This means she either is a past victim of sex abuse with a hair trigger, or a racist with an axe to grind. By claiming to be a cop, she is already realizing her weak stance, and seeks a way out. Not sure if that crosses the line of impersonation. What I noticed most, is the Childs reaction to hearing she is calling the police. Most children do not scream and cry in terror when being told the police are on the way. This should speak volumes about what life is like for black people in America. The store owner should ban her for life, and she should be taken to “psych eval”.
I had an occasion recently when a juror in a federal trial of a black man, found themselves in my presence and assumed I was a good ol boy, and unleashed a tirade of despicable racism regarding the presumed guilt of the defendant one day into the trial. Dude was off the jury by 10 am the following day. I think what white America needs to understand and absorb, is when our history was to abuse , enslave and slaughter a group of people because of their race or skin color, the trauma is inter-generational and does not just wash away with one or two generations. Blaming the victims or ignoring the inter-generational nature of trauma, is not the way forward. You cannot sit on a jury if you are racist. And racism is inter-generational also, and is an illness born of Fear.
What I suggest is conscious awareness of the situation. If you see that as blame, then you don’t get it.
If a white man speaks up about racism that only pops up when people feel comfortable ( which is very often the case ) then that does not make me a racist. It makes me a snitch. And I’m fine with that. As for religion, that is an entirely separate issue without racial boundaries, and one that should be examined based on evidence. The evidence shows, it causes dispersion, overly influences military policy of several governments, and is rooted in mythology. I could care less what people want to believe as long as I do not pay for it, or people suffer because of it. As long as that continues……it is fair game. 15 states now have investigations and a federal investigation has started also. I’m not alone on that one.
Heeerrre’s Johnny …..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpCUMdfRa9w
lol
” Have you ever heard of a Black or Hispanic family ostracizing their friends or family for being RACIST AGAINST WHITES?”
omg yes, plenty of times,…the best way to go is alone, so these things come out. Racism is a low percentage in all cultures.
The incident wasn’t entirely devoid of humor.
A woman ridiculed Teresa Klein with, “Who would wanna touch your flat ass?”
Seems to be more of an edgy lesbian with attitude situation, than a racial one.
I identify as Caucasian, only Gingers are white! Lol…
I’m reading Cynthia McKinneys book “Ain’t Freedom Great” to re-educate myself.
It’s been too long since I read “Soul On Ice”.
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