Taraji P. Henson Takes To Twitter About Her Son And Racial Profiling, #BlackLivesMatter
On January 5, 2015, Taraji P. Henson spoke out via Twitter about her concerns dealing with racial profiling and her son. For those who may not know of her, she’s known for her lead and supportive roles in Baby Boy, Hustle & Flow, Think Like A Man, No Good Deed and the recent television series, Empire, set to air January 7.
With so many police brutality cases happening today in the lives of African-Americans, as a mother, Taraji Henson worries about her son’s safety.
After a few retweets from those similar to the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, she tweets:
Racial profiling is VERY REAL!!! It has happened to me but to my son more and he is only 20!!! Something needs to be done.
#SERIOUSLY
Racial profiling is VERY REAL!!! It has happened to me but to my son more and he is only 20!!! Something needs to be done. #SERIOUSLY
— Taraji P. Henson (@TherealTaraji) January 5, 2015
Wearing something so simple as a hoodie can get African-Americans questioned, searched, arrested, shot — or worst — killed. It’s an issue that can’t quietly be swept under the rug.
According to an analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings by Pro Publica, Inc., an investigative journalism company, it states:
“Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater…
“The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.
“One way of appreciating that stark disparity…is to calculate how many more whites over those three years would have had to have been killed for them to have been at equal risk. The number is jarring – 185, more than one per week.”
With these numbers, Taraji Henson’s tweets speak what so many other African-American mothers feel during these times of authoritative injustices.
Henson retweeted a CBS News report on Tanisha Anderson, a Cleveland resident who died while in police custody. The report states:
“Cleveland police have come under outside scrutiny on other cases recently as well. Last month, the U.S. Justice Department released findings from a nearly two-year investigation of the agency. The department concluded that officers use excessive and unnecessary force far too often.”
Death of woman who died in custody of Cleveland police ruled a homicide http://t.co/z0hTvlV1NC pic.twitter.com/nmPUKsfW66
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 3, 2015
Age doesn’t seem to be a factor for CPD. Similar to injustices of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, 12-year-old Tamir Rice is numbered among these unfortunate.
Tamir Rice: The following is a photo of the child shot & killed by a Cleveland Police officer http://t.co/iax0yfmJqE pic.twitter.com/I5kMSZZilX
— WEWS NewsChannel5 (@WEWS) November 23, 2014
It’s apparent that Taraji Henson is rightfully concerned about the welfare of her son. She goes on to tweet:
I worked my butt off 2 break a cycle. Get my son out of the hood. Thinking his privileged lifestyle would protect him from profiling.
#WRONG
I worked my butt off 2 break a cycle. Get my son out of the hood. Thinking his privileged lifestyle would protect him from profiling. #WRONG
— Taraji P. Henson (@TherealTaraji) January 5, 2015
If people believe that celebrities are excluded from unjust treatment, this serves as a wake-up. Taraji Henson is a well-known actress. However, she’s still human, a mother — one who wants to see her son grow and prosper. And in today’s time, that’s possibly threatened.
What are your thoughts? Do you think things are ethnically equal today?
[Feature Image via Getty Images]
