Neighbours mistake Obama’s ex-aide for thief as he moves into new house
Darren Martin, a former staff member of former US president, Barack
Obama, had the police called on him while moving into his new apartment
by neighbours who thought he was a burglar.
Martin took to his Twitter handle to share the incident with the hashtag, #MovingWhileBlack.
Martin, who was a former associate director at the Federal Office of Legislative Affairs in DC and now special assistant to the Commissioner for the New York City Department of Social Services, said he was unloading his belongings at his fifth floor walk-up building on West 106th Street near Manhattan Avenue on Friday night when he saw a marked NYPD car pull up.
“Three officers hop out, demand I let them in the building, and
proceed to question me,” Martin wrote in a series of tweets titled
#MovingWhileBlack.
“I live here, and I’m moving,’ was my message, but it didn’t permeate.”
At least three more officers, in plainclothes, then showed up, he said.
READ ALSO: Kanye West sparks new outrage in calling slavery ‘choice’
“Somebody called the cops on me in my own building… About six of y’all showed up,” he said in accompanying video with cops in the background.
See the tweet thread below:
Martin took to his Twitter handle to share the incident with the hashtag, #MovingWhileBlack.
Martin, who was a former associate director at the Federal Office of Legislative Affairs in DC and now special assistant to the Commissioner for the New York City Department of Social Services, said he was unloading his belongings at his fifth floor walk-up building on West 106th Street near Manhattan Avenue on Friday night when he saw a marked NYPD car pull up.
“I live here, and I’m moving,’ was my message, but it didn’t permeate.”
At least three more officers, in plainclothes, then showed up, he said.
READ ALSO: Kanye West sparks new outrage in calling slavery ‘choice’
“Somebody called the cops on me in my own building… About six of y’all showed up,” he said in accompanying video with cops in the background.
See the tweet thread below:
Twitter has been reacting to his experience. See some tweets below:Yeah, him. I gotta say, moving up a 5th floor walk up is tough, but each of those 100 plus steps becomes increasingly grueling with the thought that you're feared or just not wanted in the building.I guess next time I'll wear a suit.#MovingWhileBlack
— Darren D. Martin (@MartinDarrenD) April 28, 2018
This is my colleague and friend. This is what racial profiling, a culture of bias, and unrepentant racism looks like. I thank God that he is alive and well and that @MartinDarrenD wasn’t harmed. This has to stop. This has to stop. #movingwhileblack https://t.co/BUaZZeiVF5— Michelle J. Millben (@mjmesq) May 1, 2018
There you have it folks…you just can’t be black in America without the police being called on you….
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