Racism Over: Black Boys Arrested For Waiting For A Bus

Breathe easy, white people! You are now safe from the terrible scourge that is black boys congregating on a sidewalk while waiting for their bus. It's just too bad that this "coach" fellow didn't get arrested too, and instead gave his student athletes an example of a calm, professional African American man giving a policeman lip and not even going to jail for it. We are not sure that is a great lesson for the young men in his care, but at least the policeman treated him like "nothing," so small favors we guess.

A police report claimed that the boys were blocking “pedestrian traffic while standing on a public sidewalk…preventing free passage of citizens walking by and attempting to enter and exit a store…Your complainant gave several lawful clear and concise orders for the group to disperse and leave the area without complaince [sic].”

Coach [Jacob] Scott arrived just as the boys were being handcuffed and was also threatened with arrest.

“He goes on to say, ‘If you don’t disperse, you’re going to get booked as well,’” Scott recalled. “I said, ‘Sir, I’m the adult. I’m their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?’”

“One of the police officers actually told me, if he had a big enough caravan, he would take all of us downtown,” he noted.

We wish there were some sort of term that denotes "the intersection of race and the law," oh well.

You can add "waiting for a bus while black" to "buying a belt while black," "working while black,"and of course"presidenting while black." 

The boys face trial for their high crimes and misdemeanors December 11.

[ RawStory ]