Former CNN anchor T.J. Holmes was pulled over by police this morning and documented the experience on Twitter.
Holmes will discuss the incident, the race relations debate in America and President Obama's role tonight The Ed Show at 8pET.
In the meantime, here's some of the basic facts of today's episode (mostly his own words):
Holmes says he was pulled over one mile from his house in Georgia by two police cars behind him.
He captured an image of a police car in his rear view mirror and posted it (at 9:19 a.m.) with the caption "Driving while black ain't no joke!"
Holmes then tweeted updates from the side of the road over the course of seven minutes:
Yep, in sitting on the side of the road 1 mile from my house with 2 cop cars behind me.
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012
Officer has yet to give a reason for why he stooped me.
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012
This is a damn shame. Officer is literally stumbling over his words trying to explain why he stopped me.
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012
Officer's reason for pulling me over: "wanted to make sure you have insurance on the car." I kid you not.
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012
Well guys, I managed to avoid jail time. However, my relationship with ____ County police may have just soured a bit.
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012#showmeyourpapers
Still pissed beyond words right now. But Lord knows I'm not the only this will happen to today.
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012#showmeyourpapers
Holmes, who left CNN for BET Networks in December 2011, will debut his new comedic news show October 1, titled "Don't Sleep With T.J. Holmes."
Leave a Comment:
Here and I though this country was moving forward. Ever sinse we Put Obama in the white house, the republicans have started walking backwards. I live in lovely NM and even though we are a multicultured state, with the true melting pot of people, never a day goes by here that someone does not expose themselves as a bigot. Will we ever grow up, America?
I drove a month, not knowing my insurance had expired, and no one stopped this grayhaired old lady driving a T-bird to see if my insurance had expired.....Hummmmmmm I wish they had.
can we say RACIAL PROFILING? i agree mom, i thought this country moved forward.
So do I, you criminal.
Whaa, Whaa, Whaa!
Police need to be charged with civil rights violations for stopping people that haven't committed any crimes.
What xe poor people would buy 3 months of insurance and when it ran out the rest of the 9 months were spent driving without. If you obey traffic laws you can go years without ever being pulled over. Funny thing xe every time I been pulled over has been when I had a black person with me. In the last 9 years I been pulled over twice, once for not looking like I belonged in the neighborhood and once because the vehicle I was driving doesn't have shoulder straps because they only had lap belts that year the vehicle was made.
RE: @Thankful Mom-3182614, (Comment #1)
Certainly, you would not have wanted to find out your insurance had lapsed after being involved in an accident! (10 years living in Socorro, NM has been more than enough to read about the kind of BS stated below.)
[While New Mexico is part of the US, some parts of it are still the Wild West.]
@Mom - I expect that you'll be more observant about when your auto insurance will expire going forward, so you won't ever find yourself ever again wishing you had been pulled over while having lapsed insurance.
And of course TJ forgets to mention it is a black officer that pulled him over.
Next who cares.
Racial profiling is just that. Doesn't matter who is doing it.
@Ho-le-brain-damage-on-a-stick,
So it's OK for african american police officers to discriminate in your world?
Can you imagine what his world is like?
I got pulled over last month and the cop was black does that mean the cop was racist?
so are we getting to the point that black cops can only pull over back drivers and white cops can only pull over white drivers so we don't continue with this false myth that anytime a black driver is pulled over and the cop happens to be white it is always racially motivated
If the cop was white TJ would have put that in his tweet.
Next look at the photo.
The ed show looking for some BS to put on the blog.
You Pyukes -- Shut-Up and Go Back to the Swamp --- GOMERS !!!!!!
I though the BS was you job, ho, now you want to blame ED?
Of course it's Ed's fault, Tmom. Ho hates him so much but watches anyway. What a dope.
If you didn't break any laws then racism would be the logical conclusion.
everyone knows Bush is to blame
Oh - OH --- RE-REG ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^- So - Easy !!
That was his onesy he was wearning. New Birth. Very Young, better keep a watchful eye out on the baby.
LOL, mom. saw that too. Wonder who this time.
I think MD, has it right!
@ HO-lee-cow...The ethnicity of the officer is not as much a concern as his actions being a derivative of a pervasive culture in our justice system.."Just checkin' your insurance."...gimme a break..The reason you hear blacks crying racism all the time is there is racism all the time! Been pulled over myself under similar circumstances for no real reason, more than once. It is true and real...If you don't live it HO, then politely shut the hell up and go to an ignorance friendly sight.
No they scream racist all the time anytime something happens to therm they don't like they always think its racially motivated
Ive been pulled a few times for insurance checks did i like it? no. did the first thing that popped in my mind if the cop was black racism? no.
unfair things happen to everyone in this world and its not always racially motivated when you are a minority
The Earth is Flat !!!!!
and the cow jumped over the moon!
How can a black officer pulling over a black driver be racism?
just saying....
Because you don't understand racism or how the world works capt re reg. Here is a clue the Nazis hired Jews to work with them against the Jews, same crap different era.
how do any of us know that this story is true- the blog says "documented" - but how is a self report a "document"- it is not - and would not be admissible in any legal proceeding- not suggesting that people are not pulled over because of their color- because they are- but we have here another rush to judgment- because many on here want to believe that what was "documented"- which in any legal sense it was not- is true
It makes no difference what color the cop is, it's about the law. Don't you righties ever use any common sense?
it does make a difference if someone is claiming that racism is involved or if the person was pulled over simply because they are black...
just saying...
That is because you are a racist to the core and you don't get that black officers have to abide within the white law's. But then capt re reg we already know thinking for yourself is not one of your skills, you just repeat whatever it is that matches your bigoted racist beliefs.
And again no it doesn't make a difference if the person broke NO traffic laws or any other vehicular laws like say driving with broken or non-functioning tail lights for example to warrant a normal reason a cop pulls a person over. This cop regardless of his race in comparison to that of the driver he pulled over not only gave the claim that he wanted to be sure he had insurance on the car, which might be not necessarily be a stretch to ask someone since it's required to have insurance, but he also asked this man for a bill of sales for his car. Now you name one place in this country where that's a normal thing to ask a driver for.
Right so instead of using race you make a lame excuse that he looked like a criminal, and what does a criminal look like xe? Tell us we would really like to know how you can tell a criminal from everyone else driving around.
Yes do explain what a criminal looks like. A well dressed, attractive young Black man who happens to be driving a car that he shouldn't possibly be able to afford by legal means. Though Mr Holmes didn't identify the model of the car he owns and was driving, but the fact that the officer asked for the bill of sales on his car suggests that that was the line of reasoning on which he was acting.
That should read in that cop's mind apparently that's what a criminal looks like. And that obviously is the foolish line XE uses. That Holmes shouldn't be able to afford the car in question so it's justified he got stopped.
The cops used to stop Miles Davis on the Long Island Expressway on a regular basis. He drove a yellow Corvette Stingray. After all the stops, they knew who he was, but they kept doing it anyway, just to hassle him.
Dick Cavette gave him a license plate that said "I own the car".
If you look closely at the picture the officer that made the traffic stop is sitting in the car. The cop on the outside of the car is his backup.
Yet = Another Infiltraitor !!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ RE-REG ^^^^^^^^
If you look the officer that make the stop is sitting in his car, the other officer is his back up.
I keep insurance just because i like to be a smart ass when they pull me over...
Yeah - and the Sun Revolves Around The Earth -- hey !!!!!?????????????????????
I usually put on a fake howdy doody/Ned Flanders voice to really piss them off...you gotta have fun whilst driving black...but do have that insurance...because if you don't they act like you raped their momma!
Hah - Just Another Smart-A$$$$$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love it scutum crux
I've been pulled over at least twenty times..and for what...nothing at all...ok once my tail light was out...got make sure a negro has tail lights...tank ya offica!
in a two year period...yes 20 times...i asked a white co-worker of the same age how many times he had been pulled over...he said once in his entire life!...
Yeah Republicans Always Tell The Truth ?????? Ha Ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!!! GOMER !!!
We have a president who gets stopped all the time for being President while black.
TRC ----- Nice ------ and How Correct You Are - Great-Great Point !!!!!!
You Hit That One Perfectly !!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥♥
How dare a black man move into the white house......../s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s
Agree, Thankful Mom,
And it really gripes the Republicans that they don't use the servants' entrance...
profiling is a natural human and animal instinct it what help us and animals survive
when you see your friend get eaten by a lion you learn to run when you see a lion when you see your friend get attacked by a shark you know not to enter the water if you see a fin even though all sharks don't attack
If you want to stop racial profiling then the best way to do it is not give the person a reason to do so. change peoples perception about your race by not doing what ever it is that gives them that perception
Yeah - RobMe -- Always Tells The Truth ?????????
I guess that means when we see your posts we should run away.
Got to love the denial of the righties who just can't seem to admit that the reason race plays into criminal behavior is because the GOP since 1970 has made it a crime to be brown in the US. Notice the bad attempt at using nature as an excuse for profiling I remember another group of people who in the 1930's made the same claim, you could tell who they were they wore brown shirts. Only a moron believes profiling prevents crime, while you are busy watching the brown guy the white guy comes up and robs you.
and...I've had several officers pointing their guns at me..multiple times...now that i think about it..that sucks...because what if they would have shot me by mistake...and i was doing nothing but driving...man that really sucks....I always let them seem my hands and ask permission to go into my glove box...then I start acting like a wise ass..
...a few times I've been in the back of a squad car waiting while they check to see if i'm a criminal...patted down on the side of the road... oh well @!$%# it and @!$%# you white America
Your F.O.S. !!!!!!! Troll !!!!!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^You are Soo Transparent !!
A newbe post his personal life story. Wrong place, wrong time.
scrotum - What color skin Do You Really have ?? just askin'
At night it's "did you know your license plate light is out?" It never has been, but that's the reason they give.
Do I have a license plate light? I've never been back there when I'm driving! How would I kown, I'm sitting in the drivers seat.
You have to run back there really fast.
Most Republicans will deny fiercely that their ALEC-fueled efforts to ram through voter ID and other voter-suppression laws aren’t about suppressing the votes of black Americans. But recently (h/t Meteor Blades), two prominent Florida Republicans have come forward to state, on the record, that this is exactly what the GOP is trying to do.
Greer’s charges are being pooh-poohed by Republicans quick to point out that he is in deep legal trouble ... But they can’t use that gambit against former Florida governor Charlie Crist who went on MSNBC recently ... and agrees with US Attorney General Eric Holder that the intent of these tactics is to suppress the black vote, Jim-Crow-fashion:
I was pulled over once in Jacksonville, FL… The officer also gave me a bogus reason… then proceeded to ask if I… (get this) possessed "Weapons of Mass Destruction" I was livid at the entire account.
Dude. You should have unzipped your pants and smiled.
That's probably what the cop was hoping, then he could get him for indecent exposure!
ask if I… (get this) possessed "Weapons of Mass Destruction"
Sure, and the cow jumped over the moon.
If you need to make up story's then write book you will make more money if you do that, other than post these made up lies on a blog.
Spoken by one who knows.
Chris that would require he comes out from under his bed in moms basement, after all he knows there are boogeyman behind every bush outside his safety zone.
TRC--Good one, that was funny!
This happens every day in "America" Sad to say the Police does not care who you are. being "Black" is all the reason. That is very scary! I always remember hearing back in the 50's African American Men would Always wore a Suite. So they would not get harassed.
I've been doing this job here since the early 90's, and we "do favors" for police. If someone is pulled over, and their car impounded, they call us, and we take the driver to their destination (and most of them are naturally pretty ballistic, so some real diplomacy is called for).
Four times during that time I've taken fares home whose cars have been impounded for lack of insurance. All four were African Americans even though they make up less than 5% of the population in the valley here...
I had it driven home to me one night when I gave a Polynesian friend a ride home. He sports an "Afro," and sure enough, I was pulled over...
Mr. Holmes is to be commended for his restraint and quiet determination to draw attention to this matter; it is hardly race-baiting...
Signed,
The Blue-eyed Cabbie
For all the morons who did not grow up in the 1950s & 1960s, just shut up & go and watch the documentary "Eyes On The Prize" which has actual footage of some of the atrocities. Then you will get an insight into why blacks are "always playing the race card" as some of you morons call it when they cry out against any perceived injustice. Most of us cannot relate to the hell they endured to live, to vote, to even marry . Its easy to say "get over it " when you did not see your brother lynched, burned alive, tortured, your church burnt to the ground, your children turned away from school because of their skin color etc.... Yes its real easy for some of you morons to talk!!! Why dont you just keep your traps shut!!!!
White Floridian
the police force live up to their stereotypical view with the invidious intent to harass all blacks and browns while driving. Don't you think that because of their color of their skin, that they would feel nervous and therefore give the impression of being suspicious. this nation has a long way to accept others as non-white.
How far away was the patrol car from him when his lights went on? Are Holmes' back windows tinted?
The officers shouldn't be pulling ANYONE over without a suspicion of infraction, regardless of who they are.
Holmes... chill out. Stop jumping to conclusions. There's serious racial profiling and prejudice going on in this country, and if you're just crying "wolf', it doesn't help those whose rights ARE being violated.
My daughter was pulled over three times a few years ago as a minor for curfew infractions ($60 a pop), twice coming home from work just ten minutes after 10:00 pm (the curfew). Once the officer accused her of being on drugs. (Of course he refused her a drug test when she asked for one.) I guess they knew her car. Maybe it was her long blond hair that just sets. them. off.
~Straight talk, race talk.
It is easy to make light of that which as a black person I have seen far too often in my life. I could always say the first or second time that I was stopped without an excuse that it had to be another reason, but the third and fourth time becomes very obvious. Secondly, seeing a young face behind the wheel in an area that have a curfew is a legitimate reason to pull your daughter over, however, seeing a black face is not a legal reason to pull someone over. I know what you are saying, what if it wasn't because he was black. It is the friends of mine who are married to a white women or men who are always amused when their white wife or husband suddenly realizes that that which was always said by blacks on TV, are in fact real. When they walk into a store and are easily handed a discount advertisement, and then find out that their husband was told ten minutes before that they had run out of the same discount advertisement that they were easily handed (true story). Or, they are in the car multiple times with their black husband or wife behind the wheel when the cops pull them over for some very "made up" sounding reason - it tends to blow their minds. You can not know that which you haven't experienced.
I doubt it was her appearance, especially in the dark, in a car. She always did have features way more mature than I liked for her age. True enough, it was after curfew, even if just by ten minutes. (I think she started carrying a note from her employer.)
It is possible they knew her by her car. It is a small town. Maybe it was personal. Maybe they thought she was gay like her mom. Maybe they thought she had a NatAm boyfriend. See... we never really knew, and that was just as frustrating, I guess.
But one thing is for sure, @Yusuf. You are correct, I can not know that which I haven't experienced. But I rarely forget that which I have witnessed.
In February, I was stopped while walking down the street. I was told that the reason I was stopped was because I looked like a suspect in a robbery. I am a professional, who works for a software company and travels the entire United States in my profession, however, at home I am stopped by the police and surrounded by about 12 officers because "I looked like a suspect". I was held there for about 20 minutes (swirling lights and all) and humiliated because I had the misfortune of "looking suspicious". I was not wearing sagging pants, or even a hoody. I did not walk with a swagger that day, nor even glare at passing cars. The only thing that could make me look like a was a suspect was because I was walking down the street after dark and I was black.
I do not believe most of my non black counterparts really knows what it feels like to be surrounded by no less than 12 officers and patted down in front of passing cars as a 37 year old professional simply because I "looked suspicious".
How about simple "best use of resources"? Traffic cops are required to make stops for lots of different reasons. They have proven many times with many studies that seeing a police officer pulling a car over causes drivers passing by to drive slower etc.
Most officers actually would prefer NOT to issue a citation believe it or not. I have a few friends who are officers and we have talked about it before. They do not have quotas for tickets like most people think, but they are required to make certain numbers of stops for various reasons. If some areas have higher instances of accidents or complaints of speeding then those areas will have a higher presence or profile. Officers patrolling that area still need to make xxx number of stops in a given time frame so if nobody happens to be speeding by they may make a "visibility" stop.
They often pick nicer cars because those people are more likely to actually have all their documents in order and the stop is routine and won't require a citation. They don't always know what color the driver or his passengers are also.
I have had two accidents the last 8 years or so, both fender benders, both times the driver had no insurance. If the officer was polite and just doing his job pulling over a random person to check for insurance I don't really see the harm, especially if they occasionally find someone without insurance.
I am white and live in South Texas which is largely Hispanic. It is not unheard of here for white drivers to get harassed so in some small way I can certainly sympathies with the resentment towards "driving while black"... but sometimes a routine traffic stop is just a routine traffic stop...
Isn't just assuming that every cop and every stop is racially motivated also a type of stereotyping? By his own admission the officer was polite and professional...
I'm sure we are all well aware that patrol officers have arbituary quotas they must fill. However while you might argue that this is no big deal you forget those quotas mean they are going to have to bother people who they don't really think or can prove broke the law.
This maybe accepted business as usual but it is not efficient use of resources and needs to be re-evaluated or stopped. Law enforcement is to be bound around statutes in regards to the actual enforcement which says they need probably cause to do a stop or search. If the person was not speeding, was not driving poorly, no seatbelt....blah blah.....then they should not be pulled over for any reason. Having said that there are circumstances where that makes since if the person resembles someone wanted for charge and is driving a car similar to one that as been declared stolen. Only then is it okay in my book.
Police can not pull you over to see if they had the right to pull you over, they can't do that. That what's called a fishing expedition
Current problems associated with any kind of appearance-based profiling is fraught with hazard. It reminds me too much of what I recall happening in rural parts of California during the late '60s and early '70s, when (men) having long hair was unconstitutionally considered probable cause to search for marijuana and other illegal drugs.
While I currently live in New Mexico, I had lived in Tucson, AZ from late '82 to mid '00. I knew quite a few legal residents of Hispanic descent, almost all of whom are native-born Americans, who could be victims of harassment in Maricopa County, where Joe Arpaio has been County Sheriff for far too long, and had his deputies engaged in "papers, please" interactions with people who look Hispanic, before SB70 was enacted, while claiming that he was committed to helping INS enforce federal law. Personally, I think he's hiding prejudice behind his badge.
While T. J. Holmes was unjustifiably pulled over just to check for insurance, he and others may be able to make a teachable moment out of that, in order to generate some good from a prejudicial act generated by the law enforcement gone over the top.