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Best selling author Tomi Adeyemi, who wrote The New York Times best seller “Children of Blood and Bone,” had a tense encounter with police at her home in San Diego, Calif. on Thursday (July 12).
According to the Harvard graduate, who wrote about the incident on Twitter, four white male officers approached her front door and asked to speak to someone inside. Adeyemi then asked for a warrant, and that’s when things went went really south.
“They showed their badges … I instantly saw their guns,” she wrote. “When I asked if they had a warrant, an officer threatened to come back with a warrant and rip my door off its hinges.”
It turned out, the officers were looking for help with their investigation and believed someone inside had a phone number they needed.
After that was revealed, Adeyemi was confused why the policemen didn’t just say that, instead of threatening to vandalize her home. But the officer who made the alleged threat denied he ever said it, and that’s when she tried to reason with them. Adeyemi also said she recorded the threats to back up her claims.
“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. I’m colorblind,'” she detailed.
Those words made the Nigerian-American writer cry, because she thought the incident could be a teachable moment, but instead the most confrontational of the officers told her to stop focusing on race.
https://twitter.com/tomi_adeyemi/status/1017501454343405568
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
Adeyemi also told them about the many videos she’s seen over the last couple of years that show white male officers killing and assaulting innocent Black people.
“’I wish the public would stop focusing on the negative,’” she said the cop stated. “’It’s such a small percentage of the police force. I get discriminated against all the time.'”
Adeyemi also said that same officer even made a joke about Black people being killed by police, which angered her even more.
In the end, the Chicago raised writer said she wasn’t harmed by the officers but traumatized and felt telling her story would be cathartic. There’s also no word if she’ll file a complaint or plans to name the policemen who came to her door.
But right away, Adeyemi received a lot of support on social media, mostly for the calm way she handled herself in a potentially deadly situation.
“You handled that situation with respect, dignity and an uneasy calm most would not be able to do,” one person tweeted. “Since you can’t make a blind man see, the best we can do is be informed and be diligent. Glad to hear you are okay.”
“Tomi, I am so sorry,” wrote someone else. “This is so horrific and deeply wrong and you were very brave, but I wish you didn’t need to be. Sending love.”
Another person said what happened to Adeyemi is a perfect example of why he or she moved their family out of the U.S.
“I read your tweets out to my family,” one of her followers wrote. “I said this is America just before reading your comments. I am so sad and so terribly sorry that you live this every day. This is one reason we now live in Australia and don’t even want to visit Trump’s America.”
You can read more comments below.
(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
It has to stop. We cannot permit citizens, asylum seekers, DACA or anyone else to have to live their n fear in this country. Those of us born into white privilege, those who can vote, those who can match have to do we can to stop this. I want my caring diverse country back
— Emma (@5Emmacares) July 12, 2018
