Ving Rhames, a widely known celebrity was recently harassed by police in his own home. After a neighbor assumed Rhames broke into the home, the unidentified woman called the police. They arrived with guns drawn while Rhames was sitting in his living room watching ESPN. When the actor opened the front door, Rhames found himself staring down the barrel of a nine-millimeter pistol and a group of police officers. Fortunately, the situation was de-escalated before Rhames was harassed further.
Rhames gave a complete telling of his experience to Clay Kane on SiriusXM News and Issues, explaining that a neighbor accused him of breaking into his own home. Rhames wasn’t doing anything suspicious nor was he stalking the house but his neighbor insisted that “a large black man broke in”.
Once the police were at Rhames’ Santa Monica home, they took him outside with the intent of questioning him. Outside, a Captain from the Santa Monica Police Department recognized Rhames and explained why they were there. Rhames then asked who’d made the call. The officers on the scene had the caller’s address and accompanied Rhames over to her house across the street. When the woman answered the door, she denied ever making such a call despite giving her information to the dispatcher.
After things were settled, Rhames biggest gripe with the police was the possibility of his son opening the door. Had Rhames not been home and his son opened the door with a video game controller in his hand, as he was known to do, the situation could’ve ended much worse. Rhames and Cane then went on to namedrop several victims who became casualties of unnecessary shootings. And the truth is, their fears are justified.
With so many incidents of black men being gunned down by police, they’re right to be scared for their safety. All it takes is one split-second lapse in judgment and a person’s life can end. We’ve seen it happen countless times before and the trend doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon.
Until police stop immediately coming to the conclusion that black people are always up to no good, these dangers will continue to exist. What’s worse is that this is America in 2018.
What once was the land of the free and the home of the brave is now the land you can be killed in for simply existing. This isn’t every American’s reality but it’s the one we all live in. And if you’re a person of color, well, your chances of surviving are much lower. That being said, our country is continually evolving and change will hopefully move us past racial discrimination by the people who are supposed to protect and serve us. Some progress has already been made but a lot of work still needs to be done.
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