Sadly racial profiling still exists. Recently child star Cherie Johnson and her boyfriend were a victim to this foolishness.
According to CNN:
Hollywood actors Cherie Johnson and Dennis White say they were improperly stopped by police, put in handcuffs and harshly questioned during a recent weekend getaway in South Carolina. They claim the incident took place because of their race.
Johnson, best known for her roles in TV shows “Punky Brewster” and “Family Matters,” and White, from the movie “Notorious,” are speaking out about their treatment by a Marion County sheriff’s deputy on September 22.
Johnson and White say they were on their way to Myrtle Beach for a quick romantic getaway when they pulled off the rural highway and parked by a cotton field. Johnson said she had never seen cotton before and told White she wanted to take a picture.
As the couple walked back to the car, they said, they noticed a police car with its lights on parked behind theirs. White and Johnson, who are both African-American, say the white officer harshly questioned them about drugs — he found none — and the cash he found in their bags.
Johnson was the national cheer representative for the Just Say No to Drugs campaign in the ’80s.
According to White’s account, Officer Shad Barfield told Johnson there was a warrant for her arrest, which she disputed, and the officer later recanted. He handcuffed White and then Johnson but did not arrest them.
“After he told me that I did not have a warrant for my arrest, and he started asking me about drugs for the third time, I said, ‘Are you doing this because we’re black?'” Johnson told HLN. “And that was when everything took a turn for the worst. He patted the car, he walked back to his car, he put on gloves. The next thing I knew, he was handcuffing Dennis.”
“He told me … I was being detained for his safety because he didn’t know me,” Johnson said.
“At this time I became distraught,” White wrote in his account of the incident. “I have been racially profiled several times in my lifetime but it touched my core when my woman was included.”
Marion County Sheriff Mark Richardson issued a statement on Monday in regard to the actors’ claims: “Discrimination in any form, including racial profiling, is strictly prohibited by this department and as Sheriff of Marion County SC, I can assure you I will take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the allegations of racial profiling made by Mr. White and Ms. Johnson. This matter will be dealt with by an internal investigation within the department and I will also ask the State Law Enforcement Division to review the allegation made against Deputy Barfield.”
Full interview below:
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