Look Who it Was Random video

PSA: Racism Is Not Voldemort

3,651 views · Published 8 October 2014 · 21:10 · Indexed 8 October 2026

Channel: Sensei Aishitemasu · 2014 · People & Blogs

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Hi All! 

I usually don't put up videos this fast but seems like this week will be chock full of racist goodies for you all. The interwebs have been ablaze with a video of a Black family being terrorized by police officers in Hammond, Indiana. When Lisa Mahone was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, she complied with police requests for her license and registration. However, when they asked her boyfriend, Jamal Jones, for his identification, things go south. 

Jones doesn't have identification and the police immediately draw a weapon when he goes to get papers out of his backpack that show who he is. There are two children in the back, aged 14 and 7, who are recording the altercation, which ended with police breaking the passenger side window, tasing Jones, and dragging him out of the car to arrest him. 

Discussing the incident on a CNN panel, legal analysts Sunny Hostin, a Black woman, and Paul Callan, a white man, got into a screaming match over whether or not this issue is about race. Callan claimed there was no 'evidence' to indicate that this was racially motivated, while Hostin said that her life as a woman of color in this country is evidence enough. 

This is a common practice in the United States, where white people have a habit of requiring 'evidence' before they will believe something is about race, and instead insist people of color are 'making this about race' when it is not. What constitutes 'evidence?' How do you compare your experiences as a person with inherent privilege to the experiences of people that have to cope with life every day as a second-class citizen?

This type of thinking undermines positive race-relations and puts the onus of 'proving' racism 'actually exists' on the victims of racism, which is a Herculean task. Either you accept that racism DOES, in fact, exist, and move forward actively working to combat it, or you are a part of the problem. 

Thanks for watching. 

Links:

'CNN panel erupts in argument about cops and racial profiling:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/10/07/cnn-panel-erupts-in-argument-about-cops-and-racial-profiling/

'Hammond Police Smash Window and Taser Passenger (VIDEO):'
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2014/10/07/exp-police-smash-window-and-taser-passenger.cnn&video_referrer=

'Hammond police sued over use of Taser during traffic stop:'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-hammond-police-taser-story.html

ETA: I couldn't think of the word confiscate! His license had been confiscated by the DMV. Yikes.

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