Tomi Adeyemi, author of the million-dollar Children of Blood and Bone trilogy, shared to her 43,000 Twitter followers an encounter she had with four racist white policemen in her home. The novelist, whose debut book hit No 1 on The New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List in March, said she hoped it would be a “teachable moment” for the policemen. It didn’t turn out so.
Read her tweets below.
4 officers just showed up on my doorstep.
they showed their badges and asked to speak to someone inside my house.
i instantly saw their guns.
when i asked if they had a warrant, an officer threatened to come back with a warrant and rip my door off its hinges.
(1/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
when it was revealed that all they wanted was to see if someone inside had a phone contact that would help them with an investigation, I asked why the officer threatened a search warrant at all or to rip my door off its hinges.
the officer denied making either threat (2/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
(and, yes—i have a video recording of him making both threats.)
when i tried to explain why four white men with badges and guns showing up on a black woman’s doorstep in 2018 was cause for extreme alarm, they said:
“this isn’t about race”
“I don’t see color”
(3/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
“I’m colorblind”
at this point i had to take a moment to myself.
i sat on my floor and cried.
but i was hoping—HOPING—this could be a teachable moment for them.
(4/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
so at the end of this encounter i pulled myself together and tried to explain AGAIN how every day for the past two years I’ve seen pictures and videos of white men with badges like theirs and guns like theirs murder and assault innocent black people.
(5/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
i tried to explain how understanding that viewpoint would help them positively interact with black people in the future.
the officer who threatened to rip my door off its hinges and then denied making this threat interrupted me to say the following:
(6/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
“I wish the public would stop focusing on the negative. It’s such a small percentage of the police force. I get discriminated against all the time.”
then the fucker made a joke.
laughed.
and walked away.
(7/?)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
This.
Is.
The.
Fucking.
Problem.
(8/8)
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
and just to be clear, i am okay. i am sharing this because writing is how I process and get through trauma.
i am not going to let that bastard ruin my day or my weekend or my life.
but THIS is what is happening every single day.
to men.
women.
CHILDREN.#ThisIsAmerica
— Tomi Adeyemi (@tomi_adeyemi) July 12, 2018
Follow Tomi Adeyemi on Twitter.
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