Here we are again.
Dirone Taylor, Mekhi Lee and Eric Rogers II were shopping for prom clothes last week at Nordstrom’s Rack in Brentwood, near St. Louis when some employees called the police on them. They had noticed employees following them, which they were used to, but then things felt different.
“At that point we moved to a farther part of the store,” Lee said, but they were still followed. “(I felt) nervous, and like I couldn’t be there.”
Lee called his mother, Twyla Lee, to tell her what was happening, and she encouraged her son to talk with the manager of the store. Lee said the manager never came to talk to them.
Lee says another customer, an elderly woman, became involved in the increasingly tense situation, calling one of the men a “punk.”
“When she called us a punk, and she didn’t have anything to do with the situation, everyone in the store is against us looking at us crazy, (and) we didn’t do anything,” Lee said. “I was totally embarrassed, and we’re the only ones defending ourselves against everyone in the store.”
When the three left the store, police were pulling into the parking lot, Lee said. Officers told the men that police had gotten a call about three black men shoplifting.
www.stltoday.com/...
Police chief Joseph Spiess told The Washington Post that the department was told “three black men, including one in a blue sweatsuit” were “shoplifting ’handfuls of products.”
The police showed up and stopped the teens, but determined there was no crime.
Now, here is where I am flabbergasted:
Chief Joseph Spiess of the Brentwood Police Department spoke to CNN and credited the three responding officers for their patience.
"They [the teens] were a bit confrontational with the officers initially, and then the officers explained why they were there," said Spiess.
He said the officers had the dispatcher re-broadcast the call for them "so that the teens could hear the report, which really helped. They got it."
"The success story here on our end -- [was that] the officers really let these kids talk, the officers figured out they weren't stealing, they had receipts for what they had," said Spiess. "Police then talked to the Nordstrom Rack people and explained there was no crime."
money.cnn.com/...
This is a flippin’ success story? What makes it a success story? Because no one was killed? None of the kids got beat up? The cops handled themselves appropriately and they won’t be sued? Can they see into the hearts of those teens? Their parents? These scars last a lifetime. They affect how POC see WHITE PEOPLE. How could they not?
Yes, Nordstrom has apologized. The president of the company is flying in to do it in person.
This crap has to stop. These kids are being traumatized. Their lives are being endangered by the irrational fears and prejudices that are running rampant from this unhinged administration. We MUST stop doing this. We MUST stop allowing this. We MUST all stand up against this profiling.
Black lives matter. Brown lives matter. Children’s lives matter.
If you don’t say it’s wrong, it’s the same as saying it’s right.