In a video shared by civil rights attorney Ben Crump on Wednesday, Sept. 16, a Black man in what appears to be a German airport is told that he “looks suspicious” because he is wearing a shiny watch and a pair of crocs.
It is not clear when the encounter took place and the identities of those involved remain unknown. The video of the incident has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
In the caption for the post containing the video, Crump wrote: “WOW. Now we can’t even wear a WATCH while Black without “looking suspicious”?! This is the DEFINITION of racial profiling! This video shows that racism is a WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC, and we need a cure for it NOW!”
When the footage begins, the Black man filming is seated, wearing gray sweatpants and crocs, and facing a heavily-armed officer.
“What is the problem? Why am I being approached?” the man asks.
“’Cause it looks suspicious,” the officer responds.
“How does that look suspicious?” the man questions.
“Like, you’ve got like this really nice watch, OK?” the officer says. “But you’re wearing crocs.”
“Because I’m wearing crocs, and I have on a Michael Kors watch, that’s suspicious?” the man responds.
“For me it is,” the officer says. “We are just trying to do our job.”
“How though? I’m literally just sitting here, I’m not doing nothing. … I’m literally just sitting here.”
The officer goes on to say that what the man is wearing “doesn’t fit with one another.”
To highlight the absurdity of the officer’s claim, the man then suggests that the officer’s watch and uniform do not match with each other.
“I definitely feel like I’m being profiled right now,” the man says. “You literally just said that I look suspicious because I have on a watch and a pair of crocs.”
“Yeah,” the officer says. As the camera pans to the left, a second officer is seen standing near the man.
The video cuts off soon afterward, and it is not clear what took place next.
