BET’s TJ Holmes Live Tweets While Being Stopped for Driving While Black
No one is exempt. Not even former CNN news anchor T.J. Holmes whose face was pretty common on the cable news station up until he left for a new gig with BET.
Holmes was pulled over by police on Monday in Atlanta for that infamous crime called “driving while black.”
As it was happening, the reporter took to his twitter account and gave the play-by-play of what was going on. He snapped a photo of his side-view mirror with the the police car’s flashing lights behind him as he sat on the side of the road.
“Driving while black ain’t no joke!” he tweeted, alongside the photo.
According to his tweets, Holmes was just minutes from home.
“Yep, in sitting on the side of the road 1 mile from my house with 2 cop cars behind me,” he said.
Holmes said he asked the officer why he was pulled over and the officer stumbled through an answer. That obviously didn’t sit well with the reporter. Since the officers couldn’t explained why Holmes was pulled over, this heightened his suspicions that racism played a role.
“This is a d—n shame. Officer is literally stumbling over his words trying to explain why he stopped me,” he tweeted.
Then, once the officer came up with an answer, Holmes shared it with his followers.
“Officer’s reason for pulling me over: ‘wanted to make sure you have insurance on the car.’ I kid you not,” he tweeted.
Holmes was eventually let go and promised a full-length report on the incident on his blog later. The incident reminds all of us that this kind of thing happens everywhere to millions of black people. In some cases, the incidents end deadly, with a police shooting occurring as the result of a confrontation that never would have happened without the officer’s harassment.
He ended that episode with a tweet that put things into perspective, “Still p****d beyond words right now. But Lord knows I’m not the only this will happen to today. #showmeyourpapers”
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d**n TJ!! hey can you please talk about on your show on CNN, can the President do somethign about this!!! He really needs to speak out about this.. ITs f*****g ridiculous. Most of the time the cop end up shooting or beating up the black driver. Then make a false report.. HuH!! hey now i hope people realize what happen on the new jersey highway between the high way patrol men and the black panthers back in the 70s was real. She shot that cop in self defens and she had a right to after the cops shot the men with her. What was she suppose to do wait until the cop shot her to.. That is why she went to cuba so she would not be killed by our racist justice system. GOOD FOR HER!!! stay save TJ
I am in no way surprised!!! This sort of thing is very very common, shamefully common
I`m so sorry this had to happen to u Tj. Stay strong
Brother God will fix all of those who has wronged.
I would like to apologize to you on his behalf.
Let vingents be mine saith the lord!!!!
Its a sad truth profiling happens EVERYDAY! The empirical data (number of stops vs numbers of arrest) does not even support any logical or strategical reason for racial profiling. Tj you are not alone. Although I know the brothers have it much harder than we sistas. I get stopped maybe 3 times a month BY MY OWN d**n HOUSE! I don’t even waste time letting the officers know my background. I simply question them on the validity and the legal basis to which they deemed I have committed a violation. I can’t stress enough how important it is for African Americans to KNOW THE LAW!
Pulling TJ over and saying, “I wanted to see if you had insurance” is another way of saying, (Show me your papers, Ni##er)!…..And yes, they do it to women too.
SAD TO STATE THAT I DOUGLAS K. STEWARD AM IN WASHINGTON DC TO MAKE AMERICA ANDTHE WORLD AWARE THAT I WAS PERSECUTED AND THAT MY FATHER WAS PROBALLY MURDERED AND THEN THEY JUST KEEP ON COMMI9TING CRIMES AGAINST US ALL WITHOUT JUSTICE BEING SERVED TO THEM TOO. WHY NOT? THEY ARE THE ONE PERCENT AND WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT. I WANT THE TRUTH TOLD BY ME AND OTHERS OBCOURSE TO SHOW THAT I WAS CONSPIRED AGAINST AFTER MY FATHERS MURDER AND THAT MANY PEOPLE WERE AND ARE SCARED TO TELL THE TRUTH ON SATANIC WHITE CRIMINALS. DOUGLAS K. STEWARD IN WASHI9NGTON DC FOR TRUTH AN JUSTICE FOR ALL NOT JUST SOME!!! 2024877564
Regarding eric’s comments, please copy and paste the hyperlink below to read about Joann Chisimard, the woman that he writes about who murdered a NJ State Trooper.
http://njlawman.com/Feature%20Pieces/Joanne%20Chesimard.htm
This reminds me of when this skinny, young Italian cop pulled me over for ‘not putting on my turning signal’. I know that I did, because it is a habbit. My light was not broken, however once you make the turn, the switch automatically goes off. I made a right turn into my block. What was similar to TJ’s incident was that he stumbled while explaining why he’d pulled me over. He knew that he was lying, and I was adamant that I did put my signal because I did. My only conclusion was that a black woman should not be driving the vehicle that I was driving at the time.
Tis permanent indeed.
TJ what is the ethnicity of the officers that pulled you over?
What organizatios are they affiliated with?
What organizations are their parents affiliated with?
Which church do they attend?
Do these officers have any family history of participation or membership in anti-Black organizations or causes?
Do they support Confederate based organizations?
What high school did they go to?
Just a few questions that should be a part of a Black community database on to track anti-Black incidents and eventually get an inside look at how these legacy crimes are developed and sustained. We need extensive knowledge to more easily cripple individuals and organizations that are persistently humiliting Black Americans.
Good luck.