Tuesday, June 17, 2025
  • About Us
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Data Usage Policy
  • Contact Us
MetroNews NG
  • Metro
  • Lagos
    • Opinion
    • Interview
    • Weird
  • World
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Nollywood
  • Odawood
  • Lifestyle
    • Careers
    • Education
    • Health
  • MetronewsNG TV
No Result
View All Result
MetroNews NG
No Result
View All Result
adron ad

OPINION: The white woman who called the cops on a black Yale student is waking the US to an ugly truth

metronews by metronews
May 10, 2018
in Opinion
0

It’s a familiar story. A black person is minding their own business. A white woman notices them and calls the cops.

The latest event in a long historical pattern took place at Yale University this week (paywall). A black graduate student, Lolade Siyonbola, was taking a nap in her dorm’s common room on Monday night after an evening writing papers. A white woman who also lives in the dorm noticed Siyonbola sleeping, told her she was not supposed to be there, and called campus security. “I have every right to call the police. You cannot sleep in that room,” the woman said in the first of two Facebook videos posted by Siyonbola.

The fallout is captured in a 17-minute Facebook video posted by Siyonbola, which now has more than 600,000 views. She shows the campus officers her room key and unlocks her apartment; the officers press her to produce identification, while Siyonbola questions whether the request is justified. Once the officers verify her identity, they leave.

The incident is the latest in a string of high-profile incidents that have exposed a troubling, often-overlooked truth about racial discrimination in the US. The Black Lives Matter movement intensified focus on police brutality in black communities, which tends to involve white male police officers’ violence against black men, sometimes with deadly results. But Siyonbola’s experience highlights the fact that white women play a role in encounters between the police and black Americans, too. Again and again, the news cycle highlights stories of white women who felt threatened by the mere presence of a black person in a public space, and called the cops.

Consider a number of recent stories that have made national news in the US. On May 8, a white woman spotted three black women checking out of their Airbnb rental and called the police. Seven police cars showed up; the police instructed the black women to put their hands in the air, and told them that a police helicopter was encircling them. The officers let the women leave once they showed their Airbnb booking confirmations and phoned the home’s landlord, who told the police they were indeed guests, and not burglars. In April, two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks (paywall) after a white female employee called the cops. Their crime? Sitting at a table and waiting for their friend. The two men were held for nine hours and eventually released without charge.

Jessie Daniels, a professor at The City University Of New York, notes in the Huffington Post that these incidents follow a well-established blueprint in the US. When the Starbucks employee called the police, Daniels writes, “she was deploying a technology that was designed to protect white women from men like Nelson and Robinson ― one that relies on the constant surveillance, threatened incarceration and oppression of black men.”

White women’s recent choices in the voting booth have also demonstrated how they prop up racial injustice. Exit polls showed that 52% of white women backed Donald Trump, known for anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Over a year later, when voters in Alabama went to the polls to choose between Democrat candidate Doug Jones and Trump-favored Republican Roy Moore, who was accused of child molestation, white women voted overwhelmingly for Moore. By comparison, exit polls showed that 98% of black women voted backed Jones.

The results of the Alabama election led to an outpouring of love for black women. The latest incidents of racial profiling suggest that white women may be in for a powerful reckoning about how their ideas about who, and what, is dangerous put other people’s safety at risk.

Previous Post

Online Love Scam: Grandmother Loses Over £200k

Next Post

We must not allow Nigeria break – Joda, Horsefall, Opadokun

Related Posts

Artificial Intelligence and the Nigerian Mind: Are We Asking the Right Questions?
Opinion

Artificial Intelligence and the Nigerian Mind: Are We Asking the Right Questions?

June 16, 2025
Democracy Day Celebration: Babajide Omoworare Extols The Virtues of June 12 and the Triumph of Democratic Resolve; Calls For Renewed Patriotism and Responsible Governance
News

Democracy Day Celebration: Babajide Omoworare Extols The Virtues of June 12 and the Triumph of Democratic Resolve; Calls For Renewed Patriotism and Responsible Governance

June 12, 2025
Two-year anniversary: President Tinubu’s managerial prowess undeniable, ready to domesticate renewed hope in Osun – Sen. Husain
Opinion

Two-year anniversary: President Tinubu’s managerial prowess undeniable, ready to domesticate renewed hope in Osun – Sen. Husain

May 29, 2025
Next Post

We must not allow Nigeria break – Joda, Horsefall, Opadokun

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

  • #SmartLagos
  • Accident
  • Aviation
  • Award
  • Banking
  • Basketball
  • Beauty
  • Boxing
  • Brands
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • Careers
  • Community development
  • Crime
  • Culture
  • Default
  • Domestic violence
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Empowerment
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Event
  • Fashion
  • Featured
  • Finance
  • Football
  • Gaming
  • Gist
  • Golf
  • Health
  • Inspirational Patience
  • Interview
  • Investigative
  • Law
  • Lifestyle
  • local
  • MetroMan
  • MetroPerson
  • metroplus
  • MetroProfile
  • Movies
  • Music
  • MUSIC
  • New Music
  • News
  • nolly wood
  • Nollywood
  • Novels
  • Odawood
  • Oil&Gas
  • Opinion
  • Parenting
  • Photos
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Relationship
  • Religion
  • Scandal
  • Security
  • Sex
  • Society
  • Sports
  • Tech
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • TV
  • Videos
  • Weird
  • Wheels
  • World

BROWSE BY TOPICS

#COVID19Nigeria #EndSARS Adams Oshiomhole APC ASUU atiku Atiku Abubakar boko haram Buhari Bukola Saraki business CBN court COVID-19 crime davido ECOWAS Edo Election Edo State Election efcc Featured FG Goodluck Jonathan gunmen INEC Kayode Fayemi Lagos Lagos State Muhammadu Buhari NCDC NDLEA news Niger Nigeria NLC Obaseki PDP police politics President Buhari Sanwo Olu senate tinubu wike Yemi Osinbajo


Recent News

  • (no title)
  • Benue Police Arrest 14 Suspects for Hijacking Protest, Arson, Driver’s Death
  • NIHOTOUR Clarifies Compliance Exercise Incident At Federal Palace Hotel
  • About Us
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Data Usage Policy
  • Contact Us

© Copyright MetroNews NG 2020. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Metro
  • Lagos
    • Opinion
    • Interview
    • Weird
  • World
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Nollywood
  • Odawood
  • Lifestyle
    • Careers
    • Education
    • Health
  • MetronewsNG TV

© Copyright MetroNews NG 2020. All rights reserved.