wfgodot
Former Member
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'Babysitting while white?' Meet the white grandfather who was detained
and HANDCUFFED for walking home with his black granddaughter... TWICE (Daily Mail)
Links to Mr. Henson's blog entries about each incident:
Is "Babysitting While White" reasonable suspicion for police questioning? (06 November 2008)
Me, APD, and 'Babysitting While White,' Part Deux (11 February 2012)
and HANDCUFFED for walking home with his black granddaughter... TWICE (Daily Mail)
more, with pictures, at link aboveScott Henson is a self-described Texas redneck, white and middle-aged. His granddaughter Ty -- the five-year-old daughter of his goddaughter -- is black and Mr Henson often finds himself babysitting her.
And that pairing has apparently drawn the suspicion of police in Mr Henson's hometown of Austin, Texas. Twice in three years, he has been swarmed by officers and questioned aggressively -- for no other reason than being a white man walking down the sidewalk with a little black girl, he says.
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In each encounter, Mr Henson said he was terse with officers and reluctant to give information because he was insulted that he was being stopped and questioned for being with a little girl of a different race. He maintains he had no obligation to cooperate.
But he says the subsequent police response was rude, incompetent and terrifying to his young granddaughter.
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'I'd like her to view police as people she can trust instead of threats to her and her family, but it's possible I live in the wrong neighborhood for that.,' he wrote.
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Links to Mr. Henson's blog entries about each incident:
Is "Babysitting While White" reasonable suspicion for police questioning? (06 November 2008)
Me, APD, and 'Babysitting While White,' Part Deux (11 February 2012)