Another incident has occurred where Black people faced police due to racial profiling. This time, the incident happened in a wealthy community in Upper Arlington, Ohio.
According to a Facebook post by Brandie Sharp, her sons Mycah Sharp, 17, and Uriah Sharp, 11, obtained a summer job delivering newspaper ads to learn the value of hard work. However, they faced issues from White neighbors who viewed them as suspects.
On the afternoon of July 6, the police approached the kids while they were delivering on their first day of work. The police asked the boys if they were intruding in the area. Brandie Sharp told the police officer that they were working and showed their bag for the local newspaper. She said the boys had made a few deliveries to the wrong addresses and needed to retrieve the papers. The police did not arrest the boys, but Brandie Sharp was upset that she had to go through that ordeal.
“First day of paper route and we are pulled over by police,” Sharp wrote in a Facebook post. “Sad I can’t even teach my son[s] the value of working without someone whispering and looking at us out the side of their eye perhaps because we don’t look like a person that belongs in their neighborhood. Police officer pulls up and ask us questions as if we were intruding in their area. Totally disgusted and disturbed that this kind of behavior still exist[s]. My apologies Upper Arlington for bringing my 12-year-old African American son into your neighborhood to deliver the paper and make a few dollars on the side … I will make sure my boss changes his route.”
According to AreaVibes, Upper Arlington is 92 percent White and has a Black population of less than 2 percent.
Unfortunately, the Sharps are not alone. Over the past 90 days, a multitude of Black people have been racially profiled by White people who have called the cops on Black people who were not a threat to the public. Cases include Black people siting in Starbucks while being Black; staying in an Airbnb while being Black; taking a nap at an Ivy League school while being Black; golfing at a majority White male country club while being Black; making barbecue in the park while being Black; cutting grass while Black; and playing in water while Black.
Racial profiling is becoming an epidemic. Nearly every week for the past three months, a racial profiling story has gone viral. It speaks to a larger issue in America.
