A recent confrontation at Yale University between a police officer and Yale student Tahj Blow sparked further controversy and anger over police interactions with young black men — especially from Tahj’s father, a New York Times columnist.
With the recent unrest among the black community over the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases, it seemed at first glance, based on the article from the father, Charles Blow, that this could have turned out similarly.
Unlike the other cases, though, one key detail Charles Blow left out of his article was that the police officer that stopped Tahj and pulled out a gun was black.
This detail was also left out of the article, and many people criticized him for it on Twitter and in the media.
But he later responded:
When I wrote about Eric Garner in this column, I didn't mention the race of the ppl who killed him either. http://t.co/AzaYaiqAUO #CalmDown
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 28, 2015
He sent out another tweet later about the Michael Brown column as well:
When I wrote this column about Micheal Brown I didn't mention the race of the officer who shot him either. http://t.co/vjhQhto7vQ #BOOM
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 28, 2015
Blow also tried to reiterate his point that it was not all about race with another tweet, leaving followers with a powerful message to reflect on:
This isn't about individuals on the trigger end of the guns but the culture and how it that culture interacts with communities of color.
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 28, 2015
This tweet reflected ideas of Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who spoke 10 days ago on UNC's campus about police violence.
She told the audience, “We should recognize that we are talking about a culture,” and added that problems in law enforcement culture in particular are deeply embedded.
Ifill also presented solutions that could help with some of these issues and prevent future encounters like Tahj’s, or more deadly encounters like Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
These strategies included implicit bias training and body cameras.
Although these strategies will not solve all the problems right away, it might be a start to avoid future tragedies and prevent people like Charles Blow from having to get a call that “no parent wants to get.”
Timeline of the events
On Saturday, Jan. 24, Tahj Blow was headed back to his dorm after picking up a book in one of Yale's libraries. As he was walking back, he saw a police officer running, and continued heading back to his room. Tahj then said he heard the officer say “I got him.”
According to Tahj’s conversation with his father, the police officer then called out, “Hey, turn around." Tahj did so — and the policeman pulled a gun and told Tahj to lie on the ground.
After Tahj told the officer he was a student at Yale, the police officer allowed him to stand, and then continued to question Tahj, who vaguely matched a description to a burglary suspect.
After several questions, a female officer also came to the scene and Tahj told her a police officer had pulled a gun on him, and he wanted to know why.
The female officer explained that he matched the description of the burglary suspect.
state@dailytarheel.com
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