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Nabbed for shopping while black in JP?
By adamg on Wed, 08/05/2015 - 4:25pm
The Bay State Banner interviews Robert Johnson, Jr., a UMass Boston professor and attorney, on being pegged by a local liquor store as a cognac thief last month.
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Comments
Cognac Summit!
In a (very special, old pale) spirit of comity and cooperation
I'm sure
someone who studies races doesn't look at everything through a racial lens and he's 100% correct and unbiased.
Iv been mistaken as someone's else, luckily not a criminal and the tought of race never crossed my mind, until I read this mans BS claim.
That's the point...
That's the point, you've never been pointed out as a criminal when you were out lawfully being, it's a distinctly lower class (read: darker skinned) problem and he, apparently, is a touch above that being a professor with only white neighbors.
It's very insulting to think after all your accolades & merits, doing it the right way - you are still an eye-witness away from being dragged from your home by the police over something that very obviously doesn't concern you. (fortunately, he complied with the police so they didn't have to remove him with cuffs)
The reason why he's making a fuss over this is because he knows he can bring awareness to the problems inherent with this, faulty eye-witnesses, and the overall fight for Black ppl to be seen as people first. I am with him, anything to let Black people know their rights and make them aware when they are being exploited by a unforgiving system. This be an example of what to do and what questions to ask to see if you've been falsely accused because of your race.
I hate to burst Professor Johnson's bubble
but, yes, 66 year old white guys (and Latino, Asian, American Indian....) do sometimes get stopped police and store employees for stealing and other reasond. You never hear about it because 99.9% of the time it's never publicized. Same goes for other age groups, genders. Many people, from all types of background, can tell you stories.
I've been stopped multiple times by police, who claimed I looked like someone they were looking for. Last time was a year ago in Brookline, coming out of an ATM on Beacon St. They were looking for someone who looks like me. And I'm a white guy in his mid 30s.
Does the professor own a pick up truck? How did they get his name and address? Credit card?
Presumably they got his info
Presumably they got his info from the employees who suspected he might be the thief and called the police as the manager said to do.
But...
The part that he's upset about isn't that he was being questioned, but rather that the ACTUAL suspect looked absolutely nothing like him other than also being a black man. I'm sure you'd feel the same, no matter what race you are, if you were suspected of a crime done by someone who looks nothing like you... so you didn't really burst his non-existing bubble. You in fact missed his whole point entirely.
*allegedly* looked nothing like him
I admit that this whole thing does sound sketchy.
However...how many of us have been told "Oh, so-and-so is your twin/doppleganger!" - and you look at this other person and you're like NO WAY. It's certainly happened to me. As readers all we have is Prof. Johnson’s assertion that there was no likeness. That's certainly not nothing, but I think we all have a tendency to see ourselves as more distinct than strangers do.
On the other hand, what I don't understand is why the BPD isn't releasing security footage of the thief - is there an actual practical reason (rather than a rationalized one) to not let the public see footage of an uncaptured criminal in the act? Because it sounds like they don't want to be embarrassed if people see images of the professor and this guy and think there's no similarity beyond gender+skin-color.
I guess the next logical step
I guess the next logical step is for all black people to wear body-cams. I mean after all its to protect the innocent as well as prove the guilty.
Many cyclists already do
For similar reasons.
Also, you know why dash cams are so prevalent in Russia, right?
Russians do it for insurance
Russians do it for insurance reasons. People drive very aggressively there and don't obey the rules of the road.
Sounds very different from
Sounds very different from Eastern Mass.
Part of me wishes we had
Part of me wishes we had dashcam footage that was even a sliver as close to the stuff captured in Russia here in the GBA. If only because I revel in all things absurd.
Ask and ye shall receive
"I'll put a hole right through your fucking head"
I've seen some weird things on Russian dash cam videos
But I never saw a cop threaten to murder anyone.
Wait a sec... this is about
Wait a sec... this is about people of color here in the U.S. Don't make it about you and cyclists please. Show a tiny bit of respect for other issues.
Sigh....
Seems like Skip Gates has a protege. Think PBS will give this good Professor his own show?
Mildly resembling Morgan Freeman
About 20 years ago.
I see a bit of Sugar Ray Leonard.
I see a bit of Sugar Ray Leonard.
What a nonstory. The police
What a nonstory. The police were following up on a lead on a suspect that matched the description in video surveillance. More anti-police BS "spread this story now!!!! junk" from the media just because the officers were doing their job.
Not surprised an academic pulled the race card considering it's the trendy thing to do now when interacting with police http://foxct.com/2015/07/31/dash-cam-audio-released-after-professor-char...
I think the main point here is that......
He didn't do it, and was cleared as a suspect because he had a job and made some money. If it were some regular joe blow, he may have gotten arrested and the store employees may have misidentified him as the suspect.
I don't think his lawsuits will go anywhere, as I don't think anyone acted maliciously or negligently in identifying him, but it shows how slippery a slope eye witness identifications can be.( and the subsequent criminal justice process that goes along with it)
No, he was cleared because he
No, he was cleared because he didn't actually match the video surveillance. If the police had taken the time to capture a video frame and print it out before they came to the professors home they would have noticed he wasn't the perp. Since he was never arrested (but he was in police custody) there really isn't a cause for a lawsuit. The only reason this is news is that he brought it to our attention. Depending on ones demeanor this could have gone down in a totally different direction.
Sigh...
"Can identify the person who robbed you?"
"I'm too afraid. What if I'm wrong? I could get sued."
The legal profession's version of don't snitch. What a lovely thing to bring into the world.
Sigh
Another anon who really doesn't get it.
Innocent until proven guilty - there are reasons our legal system is set up that way.
You might also follow Pete's lead, above, and do some basic research on how unreliable eyewitness testimony really is.
Unreliable? What else in a
Unreliable? What else in a situation without high resolution cameras can be relied on?
A photo array is reliable.
If done properly.
But, but, but
The police let him go. Technically, they decided, without charges being filed, that he didn't do it.
Now the presumption of innocence goes to the Blancards employees.
And it worked.
He wasn't convicted of anything or even charged. It would be great if crime victims had perfect recall but they don't which is why there are investigations and trials. He assumed he was cleared because of his job and he assumes the witnesses misidentified him because of his race. Those are his perceptions not facts and perceptions can be wrong for the same reason identifications can be wrong, people aren't perfect. That doesn't mean crime victims should be threatened with lawsuits.
The prof didn't resemble the thief
based on verbal descriptions taken at the time and video footage. What they had in common was being black, and the prof wasn't even as dark as the thief. How does that translate to don't snitch?
And the cops didn't know
What he looked like until the interviewed him.
Whats your point?
What are the cops supposed to
What are the cops supposed to do, bring in white guys to try to match the black guy on the security camera?
Good lord, it's a case of mistaken identity, it's annoying, and it's unfortunate. But to make this into a racial thing? Come on.
Hmm ...
You do realize that not all black men look alike, right?
Oh boy Adam, until just now I
Oh boy Adam, until just now I assumed all black dudes looked exactly the same, but thank you very much for clearing that up for me.
Did you see the video? Do you think they have a high res camera that cleary identifies all features? The point is the cops were called and had a lead. They followed up on it, the lead was obviously wrong and it got cleared up. Why does that have to be turned into a racial thing because both the perp and the guy they mistakenly brought in were black?
Hmmm
Black men shop at JP Blanchards all the time, but it was this particular one who was mistakenly identified as the thief. Doesn't that mean they in fact DIDN'T all look alike to those KKKlerks?
They are all Dee Brown
All black men look like Dee Brown.
Not only that,
but everybody knows that Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads and made a deal with the Devil. How can you believe anything he says after that?
Robert Johnson/Blanchards
I think what some of you are not realizing is that things like this happen to black people over and over again whether you are a professional or nonprofessional, conducting yourself "properly" or acting like a fool. You CAN'T get away from it no matter how hard you try and that is b/c you are black. When you are mistaken for something that you are not whether it's a criminal, thief, thug, doorman, valet, etc... multiple, multiple times it makes you “angry” and “sensitive” because you deal with it so much. I think the only way to truly get it is to be black and experience it or have close friends who are black that experience it and see it yourself; I’m not sure how else you can grasp it. It’s the type of thing that you have to experience or see firsthand other than that you probably won’t believe it. I think it's hard for some people to believe that you can be unnecessarily profiled, hassled, murdered for something that is completely out of your control and that's your skin color.
You can crack jokes all you want but profiling happens all the time and when you see black people getting “angry” or “sensitive” it's because it's the umpteenth time that it has happened. If you truly want to get it go get yourself a few black friends, beyond your “best black friend” and observe how they are treated. Alternatively don’t get yourself a few black friends, beyond your “best black friend” and rant on sites like this one, about how the stuff that happens to black happens to you also.