Member-only story
UPDATE: Alabama Cops Brutalize Indian National for Walking While Brown
Now comes word from Aljazeera.com that a 57-year-old Indian citizen was severely injured when northern Alabama police body-slammed him to the ground for looking and acting “suspicious.”
Sureshbhai Patel, an Indian national and permanent resident of the US, had only arrived in Huntsville one week before the incident occurred. He had migrated from India to assist his son Chirag Patel, an engineer, and daughter-in-law in raising their handicapped child.
Henry F. Sherrod, a civil rights attorney from Florence, Alabama, is quoted by Aljazeera thusly:
He was just out for a walk, and apparently someone made a suspicious person call … This is a grandfather who came to help his son and daughter-in-law with their 17-month-old son who was premature and developmentally delayed.
Obviously Mr. Patel had not been in the US long enough to learn the rules: Black (or in his case Brown) men do not walk around aimlessly in “affluent” white neighborhoods in this country. He also did not know that for black (and brown) men in these neighborhoods, a uniform of some description is required (FedEx, Postal Worker, UPS Driver, Landscaper, Cable Guy, Security Guard, etc.).
Thus, because he did not know or understand the rules which govern walking…
