Here's a link to the story I will be referencing:
This is Trayon Christan.
He is a 19 year old student from Queens, NY who was arrested after purchasing an expensive belt from Barneys in New York City. Trayon bought the belt and was barely 3 blocks away from the store when he was confronted by undercover police officers. These officers accused Trayon of stealing the belt and arrested him. Even though he purchased the belt using his own debit card and showed his ID when asked, a store clerk still called police to report a burglary. Trayon was arrested and taken to the police station. There are conflicting reports for how long Trayon was kept in custody. The official police documents state he was kept in the station for 42 minutes but Trayon says he was detained for 3 hours. He was eventually released and no charges were filed.
There are so many different parts of this story that are so ridiculous to me.
1. After using a debit card (in his name) and then showing an ID that matches the debit card name, why was the store clerk still suspicious?
2. Why did the police still arrest him when he produced his debit card, ID, and receipt showing the purchase?
3. Why is there such a huge disparity in the time that Trayon says he was kept in custody and the time the NYPD says he was kept in custody?
Clearly Trayon is a victim of racial profiling. Why is this still happening in our society? Social injustice is all around us.
I agree Libby it seems as if social injustice is everywhere. I wonder why Trayon had to jump through so many hoops? Don't they know crime has no color!
ReplyDeleteAs a person of color and speaker of another language other than English, I too have experienced social injustices and at bare minimum the threat of stereotypes makes me guilty (Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele). I hate this feeling! I am doing my best to overcome, I can only take it one day at a time. I think that Social Injustices still exist because people just don't know, they are not informed, they don't care to know, they don't challenge their views about issues of race, gender, religion, class and culture. They would rather stick to the opinions that they have formulated and with the view that they are most comfortable with. There have been many views that I have been challenged to accept and respect. However, respect is not always returned. If I am going to be an educator who advocates for Social Justice, one rule that I have to live by is to always consider the other side of what I may believe and never frown upon it because it is different, but rather respect that this is another person's lifestyle decision whether I agree with it or not.
ReplyDeleteAnd may I add that Stereotype Threats are real for every culture, not just for the Brown and Black folk or the poor, but for the rich too...Stereotypes have no respect for anyone or is anyone an exception to the rule.... unfortunately....
ReplyDelete