Police have been implicated in several police brutality incidents with celebrities over the past week. TLC singer T Boz’s family is suing the Peoria, Illinois police for wrongful death after they killed her mentally ill cousin Eddie Russell Jr. firing 17-20 rounds at him.
And last week, Cardi B tweeted that an NYPD officer put her in a chokehold. Later, the former stripper, reality star and “Bodak Yellow” hit maker deleted the tweets, leaving fans wondering what exactly happened. Now the 24-year-old is telling all. In an interview with 99 Jamz, Cardi says that she and her cousin got into an altercation while in traffic with a man who hit her car windows. The outspoken emcee says that her cousin and the other driver got out of the car and were about to fight when Cardi threw her shoe at the man. Then she says the police stepped in:
“Out of nowhere a mf put me in a chokehold like a chicken wing,” Cardi says “There’s two men that are about to square up, but you’re so p*ssy you won’t even hold back the men, you’re gonna put the female in a chokehold.
(I’m abbreviating the curse words 😊)
Cardi claims that the police made efforts to get her to make a statement following the incident, but that she decided not to because she didn’t think it would help the situation. She also says that she didn’t know the officer’s identity. Following the incident, the NYPD released a statement that they had no evidence to support Cardi B’s claims. To this, Cardi responds,
“You guys be lying, and this is why I don’t talk to you guys. It really hurt me that mfs really releasing evidence. You don’t even know where it happened. It’s not even about me. It’s because NYPD is the biggest gang in New York. And that really bothers me.”
Statistics from the justice department reveal that 36 percent of all unarmed people shot by police are African American men even though black men make up only 6 percent of the population. The ratio was seven-to-one of unarmed black men dying from police gunshots compared to unarmed white men in August of 2015. Two years later that ratio has become even higher.
Until police are held accountable, the dignity, rights and lives of black people – both men and women – will continue to be unjustly at risk by law enforcement.
