Three black male teenagers were racially profiled and arrested while waiting for a bus to take them to their high school basketball game. According to a report by WROC, Raliek Redd, Wan’Tauhs Weathers and Daequon Carelock were waiting for the bus in Rochester, N.Y., on Nov. 27.
Two police officers approached the teens and told them to disperse. The teens told the officers that their basketball coach arranged for a bus to pick them up for a basketball game. But the officers ignored their claim and arrested them for “blocking pedestrian traffic.”
When the boys were handcuffed, their basketball coach, Jacob Scott, pleaded with the officers to release the boys. But a sergeant arrived on the scene and backed up the police officers. The officers then threatened to arrest Scott.
The teens were eventually taken to jail. After facing heavy backlash over the arrest, the charges were dropped.
But the blatant racism in this case can’t be ignored or forgiven. If the three teens were young white males waiting to be picked up for a soccer game, there would have been a completely different reaction from the police officers. In fact, the officers probably wouldn’t have stopped at all. But racial profiling continues to be a major issue with law enforcement in America.
The three teenagers have been criminalized for “standing while black.” In order for this to stop, there must be legislation implemented to prevent racial profiling. If not, we will continue to see innocent black American citizens fall victim to this vicious trend.
