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Django Unchained Actress, Daniele Watts, Claims She Was Wrongfully Arrested

Django Unchained actress Daniele Watts was wrongfully detained as a result of racial profiling.

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Actress Daniele Watts Contacts NAACP After Questionable Arrest

Django Unchained star Daniele Watts claims she was wrongfully detained as a result of racial profiling.

Daniele Watts and her boyfriend say Studio City police mistook them for a prostitute her “trick”.

Daniele Watts is most well known for her portrayal in the critically acclaimed movie Django Unchained. The actress took to her Facebook to describe the ordeal her and her boyfriend went through.

“Today I was handcuffed and detained by 2 police officers from the Studio City Police Department after refusing to agree that I had done something wrong by showing affection, fully clothed, in a public place.”

Daniele Watts

Daniele Watts (Photo Source : http://www.stageandcinema.com/)

Daniele and her boyfriend say they couldn’t show public display of affection without being accused of being a prostitute.

Within moments, the two say they were accosted by police officers.

Daniele Watts shared the story on her Facebook

When the officer arrived, I was standing on the sidewalk by a tree. I was talking to my father on my cell phone. I knew that I had done nothing wrong, that I wasn’t harming anyone, so I walked away.

A few minutes later, I was still talking to my dad when 2 different police officers accosted me and forced me into handcuffs.

As I was sitting in the back of the police car, I remembered the countless times my father came home frustrated or humiliated by the cops when he had done nothing wrong. I felt his shame, his anger, and my own feelings of frustration for existing in a world where I have allowed myself to believe that “authority figures” could control my BEING… my ability to BE!!!!!!!

I was sitting in that back of this cop car, filled with adrenaline, my wrist bleeding in pain, and it occurred to me, that even there, I STILL HAD POWER OVER MY OWN SPIRIT.

Those cops could not stop me from expressing myself. They could not stop the cathartic tears and rage from flowing out of me. They could not force me to feel bad about myself. Yes, they had control over my physical body, but not my emotions. My feelings. My spirit was, and still is FREE.

I will continue to look any “authority figure” in the eye without fear. NO POLICE OFFICER OR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ME. WE ARE EQUALS. I KNOW THAT I WILL ALWAYS BE FREE BECAUSE THAT IS THE NATURE OF MY SPIRIT.

And moreover, I deeply enjoyed connecting with the cops who detained me. I allowed myself to be honest about my anger, frustration, and rage as tears flowed from my eyes. The tears I cry for a country that calls itself “the land of the free and the home of the brave” and yet detains people for claiming that very right.

Today I exist with courage, knowing that I am blessed to have experienced what I did today. All of those feelings, no matter how uncomfortable. These feelings are what builds my internal strength, my ability to grow through WHATEVER may happen to me.

That internal knowing is what guides me in this world. Not the law, not fear, not mistrust of government or cops or anything else.

In this moment there is a still small voice whispering to me. It says: You are love. You are free. You are pure.

Daniele Watts boyfriend also shared his account of what happened.

Today, Daniele Watts & I were accosted by police officers after showing our affection publicly.

From the questions that he asked me as D was already on her phone with her dad, I could tell that whoever called on us (including the officers), saw a tatted RAWKer white boy and a hot bootie shorted black girl and thought we were a HO (prostitute) & a TRICK (client).
This is something that happened to her and her father when she was 16. What an assumption to make!!!

Because of my past experience with the law, I gave him my ID knowing we did nothing wrong and when they asked D for hers, she refused to give it because they had no right to do so.

So they handcuffed her and threw her roughly into the back of the cop car until they could figure out who she was. In the process of handcuffing her, they cut her wrist, which was truly NOT COOL!!!

Our freedom isn’t freedom folks, when people can abuse others with no reason or evidence at all just because they “think” they have been given the power by people that are ONLY equal to us.

Of course, they had to let her go eventually cuz we weren’t a threat to anyone.

They weren’t expecting D to be so intelligent and outspoken, and left truly feeling the fear vibration finding out that they had just f–ked with 2 celebrities (Celebrated People).

WE ALL HAVE THE SAME POWER INDIVIDUALLY IN THIS WORLD, AND I’M GLAD WE’RE ALL TAKING IT BACK ONE BEING AT A TIME!

The couple believes they were targeted because they are an interracial couple.


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Crime & Justice

Detroit man awarded $10 million after wrongful conviction

Alexandre Ansari was wrongfully serving a life sentence over claims that in 2012 he shot and killed Ileana Cuevas, a 15-year-old girl.

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$10 million wrongfully convicted Alexandre Ansari
Alexandre Ansari (Photo Source: Wolf Mueller Law)

A Detroit man who was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for over six years was awarded $10 million in damages by a jury.

$10 million for man wrongfully convicted

Alexandre Ansari was wrongfully serving a life sentence over claims that in 2012 he shot and killed Ileana Cuevas, a 15-year-old girl, and wounded two others in Detroit, according to a lawsuit filed by Ansari in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.

$10 million wrongfully convicted Alexandre Ansari

Alexandre Ansari (Photo Source: Wolf Mueller Law)

“Once I got the verdict back, my heart dropped. And I’m like, ‘Dang, I got to spend the rest of my life in here for something I didn’t do.’ And you know, I tried to kill myself,” Ansari told Linsey Davis on “ABC News Live Prime.”

“It felt like nobody didn’t put all the evidence together to see that I wasn’t the person in the first place. So things started getting overwhelming for me.”

Exonerated

Ansari, 39, was exonerated in 2019 by the Wayne County Circuit Court after it determined that Moises Jimenez, a former Detroit police detective withheld evidence for Ansari’s trial that would have implicated someone else as the shooter, according to the County of Wayne Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.

Jimenez received an anonymous tip that linked the shooter to the Mexican Drug Cartel, according to the complaint that released Ansari.

The officer withheld the evidence from Ansari’s 2013 trial, according to the lawsuit.

Jimenez’s attorneys told ABC News that the former detective claims that he provided all evidence he uncovered during his investigation and plans to appeal the $10 million lawsuit verdict.

There have been no reported arrests connected to the shooting since Ansari’s exoneration. Ansari was wrongfully arrested for the crime when he was 27 years old.


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Black Excellence

Regina King stars as Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress

Shirley is will be released on Netflix March 22.

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Regina King Shirley
Regina King as Shirley Chisholm (Netflix)

In the first trailer for the upcoming Netflix movie Shirley, Regina King stars as the first Black woman to be elected to Congress.

Regina King as Shirley Chisholm

Chisholm’s story will be chronicled, showing her uphill battle and obstacles to win a seat in Congress as the daughter of a Barbados-born maid and a Guyanese laborer, her struggles to navigate Congress alongside her White male colleagues, and her groundbreaking 1972 presidential campaign.

Movie production

Produced by Regina King and her sister Reina King, Shirley also stars the late Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Terrence Howard, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christina Jackson and more.

King, who spent 15 years producing the film, said the project was an incredible feat.

“It was always a little disheartening for Reina and I to have so many people over the years of our lives not know who Shirley Chisholm was,” King told Harper’s Bazaar.

“What she did was so pioneering. She was a true maverick and, you know, we use this term all the time, but she was a true first.”

King said they decided to release the film during an election year as they thought it would make for a more “impactful” release.

“As a team, we felt that is probably the best way we could possibly honor Shirley: to release her in a space that she created for herself.”

Regina King as Shirley Chisholm trailer

Shirley is will be released on Netflix March 22.


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Social Justice

Mike Carey, the first Black Super Bowl referee, wants to continue to give back to the game he loves

Carey candidly spoke with CNN and reflected on the progress in diversity within the NFL officiating community and expressed continued passion for the sport.

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Mike Carey

Mike Carey, the first Black Super Bowl referee, made history in 2008 during Super Bowl XLII.

He officiated the iconic game where the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, preventing their historic 19-0 season.

Mike Carey on DEI

In the game, Carey did not call a sack on Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Despite facing criticism, Carey has always stood by his decision.

He also took a stand by refusing to officiate games involving the Washington “Redskins” due to their offensive name, emphasizing the importance of treating everyone with respect.

Mike Carey

NFL referee Mike CareyDecember 16, 2006
Jdpaschal • CC BY-SA 3.0

Carey candidly spoke with CNN and reflected on the progress in diversity within the NFL officiating community and expressed continued passion for the sport.

While there has been headway on diversity within the league, Carey said there is still much work to be done.

“The diversity in officiating when I was there, was not there. And it wasn’t malicious,” Carey told CNN.

“[Now], you have way more Black officials. You’re now having not only women, but women of color, and whatever your sexual orientation is, it’s less and less of an issue.”

After football officiating

After his retirement in 2014, Carey became a CBS Sports analyst and co-founded Seirus Innovation, a company manufacturing snow sports products.

While he is enjoying the success of his newfound career, Carey says he is grateful for his experiences, stating, “Everything that I’ve done, I’ve just loved immensely.” said he continues to look back over his football career with pride.


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