A dozen Michigan cops from Grand Rapids broke into a family home and rushed an 11 year old black girl, pointing guns at her and cuffing her while her terrified mother begged them not to shoot her.
The police were looking for the girl's aunt, a 40 year old white woman, accused of stabbing her sister.
Grand Rapids police will not comment on why 12 armed adult police officers drew their guns and pointed them at a small, terrified child with brown skin when they'd come looking for a 40 year old woman with white skin.
One note: kudos to the mother. If it had been me watching armed men threaten to shoot my child before my eyes, I believe there is a real chance I'd have taken leave of my senses and done something that would have escalated the situation. Not because I don't understand how unwise that would be, but because even trying to imagine such a thing makes me see red mist.
Honestie’s mother, Whitney Hodges, said she tried to explain to the police that Honestie had done nothing wrong.
“The whole time they are telling her to come down, I’m telling them she’s 11 years old, that’s my daughter, don’t cuff her," Hodges told WOOD-TV.
>[?
“It made me feel scared and it made me feel like I did something wrong,” Honestie said.
Michigan Police Won't Explain Why They Arrested an 11-Year-Old Girl at Gunpoint [Liz Posner/Alternet]
(via Naked Capitalism)
