They looked like they didn’t belong there… so she CALLED THE COPS!
Native American teens profiled by white parent – calls 911 – “two males wearing all black clothing”. [Thomas Gray and his brother were wearing t-shirts of a couple of metal bands, one with stylized writing which the lady could not read. Both young men are musicians and play in a local NM band.]
I suppose this is just another story about the rise of public intolerance, privilege, and racial profiling that occurs daily here in America. It’s blatancy speaks for itself. But I am furious.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Colorado State University said Friday it “deeply regrets” an incident in which two Native American teenagers had police called on them during a campus tour because the mother of another prospective student said she was nervous about their presence.
The CSU Police Department released body camera footage Friday of officers’ interaction with the two teens, audio of the 911 call to police and the police report. You can watch, listen and read them below.
{(If you go to the link you can hear the racist, white parent’s six minute 911 call in full.)}
http://kdvr.com/2018/05/04/csu-offers-reimbursement-vip-tour-to-native-american-teens-who-had-police-called-on-them/
“When I ask them what they were wanting to study, everything they`re saying isn`t … um, they were lying the whole time, and they were just wearing, they just really stand out,” the parent said.
She went on to say, “I think they`re Hispanic, I believe, one of them for sure, he said he`s from Mexico.”
In the body camera footage the campus police ask the students to show their hands and prove they were on the tour. When one of the brothers shows an email confirmation, the police let them go.
The university now wants to make things right. On twitter, they invited the entire family back to campus for an all expenses paid trip and VIP tour. [Editor’s note: As of this writing, the Gray family has contacted the ACLU regarding this incident and has not yet accepted CSU’s invitation.]
Thomas Gray says the family has not responded yet. Gray also tells FOX31 he would still consider CSU for school. It was his number one choice.
CSU President Tony Frank wrote a lengthy letter Friday about the incident. You can read it here.
“We deeply regret the unwelcoming and concerning experience they had while guests on our campus,” the university wrote.
The statement came after news broke that the two teens had the police called on them.
Gray said police stopped him and his brother while the Colorado State admissions tour group was inside a gymnasium Monday, and began questioning the brothers aggressively about why they were on campus that day.
Campus police patted down each of the teens and released them only after they were able to provide an email proving they had reserved spots on the tour.
By then, however, their tour group had moved on without them and the brothers left the campus and returned home to New Mexico.
The teens’ mother, Lorraine Kahneratokwas Gray, said she believes her sons were victims of racial profiling and she feared for their safety after learning about the encounter.
“I felt they had been the victim of racism and that they weren’t safe there,” she said in a post this week on Facebook.
I’m getting on a plane soon so I cannot do this article justice, but my outrage is complete as a resident of Colorado, a state which was inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before that white woman or her children or her ancestors ever set foot on this continent.
This must stop. We must stand up to racial profiling at its roots.
BTW — my SO thinks an appropriate response would be to track down the complainant’s child and refuse admission to that student. But then we would be like them, right?
Some great reporting on this incident by Chuck Hickey, Associated Press and Zora Stephenson with links to police reports, etc.:
“I don’t think that what has happened should affect me in a negative way, just face what`s coming toward negative and look at something positively,” Thomas Gray said.
The university now wants to make things right. On twitter, they invited the entire family back to campus for an all expenses paid trip and VIP tour.
Early this week, University officials reached out directly to the family of the young men & their high school. We’d like the opportunity to speak w/Ms. Gray & her sons but we have not heard back from the family. We ask them to please get in touch with us at their convenience(1/3)
We will refund any expenses they incurred traveling to CSU. We deeply regret the unwelcoming and concerning experience they had while guests on our campus (2/3)
The Office of Admissions, Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Native American Cultural Center, and CSU Police Department all are reviewing how such an incident can be avoided or handled differently in the future (3/3)
Thomas Gray says the family has not responded yet. Gray also tells FOX31 he would still consider CSU for school. it was his number one choice.
CSU President Tony Frank wrote a lengthy letter Friday about the incident. You can read it here.
“We deeply regret the unwelcoming and concerning experience they had while guests on our campus,” the university wrote.
The statement came after news broke that the two teens had the police called on them.
Gray said police stopped him and his brother while the Colorado State admissions tour group was inside a gymnasium Monday, and began questioning the brothers aggressively about why they were on campus that day.
Campus police patted down each of the teens and released them only after they were able to provide an email proving they had reserved spots on the tour.
By then, however, their tour group had moved on without them and the brothers left the campus and returned home to New Mexico.
The teens’ mother, Lorraine Kahneratokwas Gray, said she believes her sons were victims of racial profiling and she feared for their safety after learning about the encounter.
“I felt they had been the victim of racism and that they weren’t safe there,” she said in a post this week on Facebook.
A GoFundMe account has been established to raise money for the brothers. Its organizer wrote the fund “will speak to our support of their desire to attend university, no matter where they choose to go.” [This account has been suspended at the request of the Gray family.]
https://www.gofundme.com/transportation-and-college-fund
Posted 12:01 pm, May 4, 2018, by Chuck Hickey, Associated Press and Zora Stephenson