Not the Blind Side –Black Foster Child Attacked By Cops In His Own Home
The Blind Side
In 2009 movie “The Blind Side,” is a semi-biographical film about the life of Michael Oher, and offensive lineman who plays for the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. Oher has an impoverished upbringing, but high prospects in college football, and was without parents and homeless when he met Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. Oher, who is Black, was adopted by the Tuohy’s, who are White. Actress Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film, and the Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a leading role. The film itself received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Tim McGraw played the role of Sean Tuohy.
When I heard about DeShawn Currie of Wake County, North Carolina, (just south of Raleigh) I immediately thought of the movie, “The Blind Side,” although for DeShawn, it was not classmates that made him feel unwelcomed – it was the cops. For about a year, DeShawn has lived with his foster parents Ricky and Stacy Tyler, who are White. They moved into their new home in July.
DeShawn Currie
DeShawn came home from school the other day. A neighbor profiled him as “suspicious” and called 911. When the cops arrived, DeShawn asked them why they were there? He told them that he lives there. The cops looked at photos on the wall and seeing that the photos are of White people, accused DeShawn of lying.
The police shouted profanities at him and pointed guns in his face. As DeShawn insisted that he lives in that house, the cops pepper sprayed him. The cops allege that they only peppered sprayed DeShawn after he became threatening and belligerent when they tried to put him in handcuffs.
So there we have it — you cannot be belligerent in your own home when you’re accused of not living there because of the color of your skin.
When Stacy Tyler came home, she saw her son DeShawn in the driveway being treated by paramedics for the injuries that police had inflicted.
The police department defended their actions, saying there had been some burglaries in the community and DeShawn did not obey their orders to the letter.
The Tylers have a 5-year old daughter who said to her mom, ‘Mama I don’t understand why they hated our brother, and they had to come in and hurt him.”
The best to Ricky and Stacy Tyler, and DeShawn. They are brave and loving, and showing the world that love is not based on the color of one’s skin.
The Young Turks and Good Morning America report with the the tape of the 911 call. I’m surprised that the caller did not add to the description that DeShawn was wearing a hoodie and a backpack that might contain burglary tools.
Posted on 10/10/2014, in Cops Gone Wild, movies, Potpourri and tagged attacked, cops, DeShawn Currie, foster child, North Carolina, racial profiling, Ricky Tyler, Stacy Tyler, The Blind Side. Bookmark the permalink. 55 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
Reblogged this on colouredjustice.wordpress.com.
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OH MY GOSH! Cops don’t even know how to reason with anyone anymore. Why didn’t they call the foster parents? Have him to sit and wait for the return call if need be, Or for the parent to come home to confirm….. What the heck. I am saddened over all these cases. By the way. Where is his dreadlocks? Nosy neighbor only notices a BLACK MALE nothing more. Where was he (nosy neighbor) when everyone was doing things together. How long did they actually live in the house?
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Shyloh,
I’ve noticed something. It goes back to George Zimmerman’s non-emergency call to the cops where he described Trayvon in such a manner that the cops would have killed Trayvon on the spot. It is my impression that some people have picked up on that and now use the cops as their proxy to commit murder. Jonathan Ferrell, John Crawford, the kid in Utah, and the list goes on and on — all killed because someone called the cops and reported them as “suspicious.”
Since July. Either they are a very quiet family where the neighbor hadn’t seen them, or the neighbor has seen them; was mad about it; saw that the parents weren’t home, and decided to make his call of a “suspicious” dread locked Black so he could teach them a lesson about the way he wants things in his neighborhood. .
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X, there you go making sense again.
of course the neighbor saw the kid before. of course he lied about something in his ‘suspicious black kid’ description. of course cops didn’t bother to verify the kid’s side of the story much less the white caller’s accusations-I mean the white neighbor was white & white is right?.. & of course pepper spraying a black boy in his own home is SOP if he has the audacity to become defensive for being falsely arrested after being falsely profiled as a criminal.
as for the complaining white person, it’s always an innocent mistake. it’s always an understandable mistake.
as for the cops, I mean why would they question the white neighbor story? he’s just concerned neighbor trying to look out for his fellow white neighbor. and you can tell how much he cares for his neighbors when he went to welcome them and introduce himself 3 months ago when they 1st moved in.. oh wait..
but anyway, don’t get upset at the cops either, after all, there HAVE been burglaries, somewhere, by someone, before, ya know! duh~!!!
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Shannon,
There you go making sense.
So if a citizen decides to be a vigilante and embellish in their report to 911, it’s the cops’ fault for not catching those Black burglars who sneak around in broad daylight on foot. It’s also the government’s fault for the Fair Housing Act, because if Blacks didn’t move into predominately all White communities, then Whites would know that any Blacks in that community would be there to commit crime rather than living there.
Yeah — they blame everything and everyone other than their own bigoted profiling.
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Reblogged this on MrMilitantNegro™.
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Hey Jueseppi, thanks for the reblog. Happy Friday!
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
I’m so sick of these senseless actions. We are off course here …. Something needs to be formatted & programmed again. Basic premise: We ALL are ONE!!
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Hey Horty! Thanks for the reblog, dear friend. You’re right — We all are one.
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Always!! ❤ …. hugs!!
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This is so sad.
I can’t begin to imagine all of the feelings Deshawn is now harboring within himself from this experience. Will he ever be able to trust the police? Will he be able to feel safe in his neighborhood? Will he view all future interactions through the lens of this hurtful experience? Is he wondering now just how many people and police will EVER appreciate him beyond the color of his skin?
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And comments from some folks on this story on other boards, still blame Deshawn. It breaks my heart.
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Mindmyme,
They’re blaming DeShawn for what? For being loved by his foster family? For going home after school? Oh — I get it — for being Black. If they are blaming his biological family for him being a foster child, I wonder if they read where Papa Zim said he was a foster child? Oh -oh, there goes that double standard again. Oops.
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Xena…..two thumbs up. I so wish that world press had a like button.
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Towerflower,
Thank you! Word Press has a “star” rating for comments, but I haven’t engaged it. Very few bloggers do. It works on the same basis as the “star” rating that you see on some blogs at the top of articles. People don’t have to sign-in to use it. Anyone can rate and as you know, some do not rate in good faith. Because of the cyber-extortionists, all comments here would have a 1 star rating. LOL! I refuse to give them that power.
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I know. And it’s so typical of the small minded people that still exist in this country. That double standard.
Many comments blame DeShawn for not allowing the police to violate his civil rights. For not kowtowing to their demands, for ‘resisting’ being treated like a criminal in his own home.
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Mindyme,
Let’s just come out and say it for it is — Many comments blame DeShawn for not behaving like a Steppin-Fetchit. They figure that the only way for minorities in this country to realize they are third-class citizens, is to be treated as such and voluntarily surrender to that treatment. It’s not much different than the methods used by domestic and child abusers.
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People are so f’ng stupid and ignorant. I tire of these stories. Are you telling me this ‘neighbor’ hadn’t seen this young man before? Someone should find this ‘neighbor’ and charge them with making a false police report.
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I’m sure they never saw him cutting the grass, putting out the trash, going out to school, coming home from school. talking to his family in the yard, getting into a vehicle to go shopping………no…
none of the daily routine ever happened here.
Thank God he wasn’t shot……’cuz we all know thst’s the 1st reaction.
So what time does the Chief have his press conference telling us how great these cops are and of course the obligatory “6 year police veteran” hype and what great restraint they exercised in this incident.
So………..at what point did they decide to ask him for ID…….or maybe lets get a phone number and call mom…..dad…..some agency that knows what’s up?? No mention of that I see.
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The address on his driver’s license did not match the address of the house because they moved from California into their new home in NC in July.
What is interesting is that the cops saw the photos on the wall, but failed to notice any signs that DeShawn was stealing anything!
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I wonder if the cops had to break down the door, or did Deshawn answer the door and let them in. Just wondering, cause most burglars now days answer the door and let the cops in, instead of trying to hide or sneak out the back door. (snark)
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Butterflydreamer,
LOL!! yeah — a burglar would have said to the cops, “Come in. I was just going to make coffee. Let me go to the truck of my car and get it.”
Which brings up something else — like with Zimmerman, I don’t understand folks so determined to profile that they lack all logical sense. Burglars on foot, without a large container, and without transportation, intend to steal what? I don’t care how much the young generation is criticized for wearing baggy clothes, the pockets still aren’t large enough to hold a big screen television.
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Xena,
I don’t think there’s a whole lot you can see walking down the street at night in the rain.
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Butterflydreamer,
Right — and without a flashlight, and especially in the front of Frank Taaffe’s house. 🙂
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No broken windows, no busted doors, Ummmm maybe he should of asked them if they wanted to see his HOUSE KEY!! Then again if they were in his pocked and he reached in to get the key, they would of shot him and made up something stupid like he was going for a gun!
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Shyloh,
There’s no way to win. (sigh) That’s the thing — it’s not only the actions of police but their lies that betray the trust of citizens.
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I know a family who have a black adopted child, after TM was shot they posted his picture on FB asking that their neighbors not profile him if they saw him walking around since he lived in the neighborhood and has friends there. It is so sad that in this time that a parent…..doesn’t matter what color their skin is…….has to go through a talk or notify neighbors that their child belongs there.
This is so disturbing, the cops knew he was a foster child, knew they just recently moved there and yet still couldn’t be bothered to find the foster parents to verify the story. What ever happened to the times when a new family moved in that people would welcome them to the neighborhood and meet their new neighbors? When did we start to hide behind our curtains, looking out suspiciously at anything different?
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Exactly! We used to know who are neighbors are.
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Towerflower,
Remember the guy who killed a man who had just purchased land and was on it with his brother? A perpetrator claimed that the men were trespassing on his property?
There are still communities that have welcome wagons, but most people are don’t pay attention to their neighbors until they see something differently. As long as the lawn is mowed, there is no loud music or arguments, excessive amount of visitors, etc., the home owners could be purple and their neighbors would never notice until they actually see a purple person going into a well maintained property. Then of course, they think that the purple people could never, ever, live in such a well maintained house and must be burglars, or Islamic terrorists, or aliens from outer space coming to kidnap and experiment on Earthlings.
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A couple of weeks ago I went to the store at about midnight to buy some milk. I was driving my husbands truck, and about half way home I look in my rear end mirror, and I have the feeling a car is following me. When I stop at the light to turn, the car is still behind me, so I grab the clicker to the gate and have it ready to enter thru. I go down the street and around the corner knowing if he entered thru the gate, he either has to live here he followed me thru the gate. Sure enough I see his headlight round the corner. I back up in the driveway and don’t get out because he had then blocked my driveway and is walking up to the truck. The flood lights are on, and I unroll the window alittle. He looks in the truck and mumbles there’s a dog in the back and starts back down the driveway. I ask him if there is a problem. He says you looked suspicious, do you live here, and I reply yes. He says it’s always dark down here and I’m tired of this shit. (yes because the house next to mine is for sale, the one across the street on the corner as well, the neighbor next door is gone for the summer, as well as the two across the street, and so on. Most people leave for the summer, may thru oct, because it is so hot.) Now I’m thinking so why do I look so suspicious. He says you’ll agree with me its dark on this street, isn’t it. He says I live down the street, and the only one I ever see down this way is the f”n gardener, and I don’t trust em. He drives off.
I go in and tell my husband, and he says what the hell. Ah now I get it. We don’t have a gardener, and the guy sees my husbands truck parked out front and him doing the gardening which is alot because we have desert landscaping and is forever pruning. He thinks he is following him in the truck, wondering what the gardener is doing in the neighborhood so late. And that is why I looked suspicious, he thought the f’n gardener was up to no good, or should I say, my black husband.
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This profiling shit is SO scary!
I am relieved to know that you and your husband are okay, butterflydream.
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ooooohhhh yahtzee you cussed!! LMAO
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lol!!
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Butterfly….I’m so glad you are ok, but you should’ve never gone home! If it was someone out to harm you or follow you by force into your home, you led them right to it. If I think someone is following me I intentionally drive around just to make sure and never go for home until I know that I’m not being followed.
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towerflower,
You’re right. I did back all the way up the driveway and knew the flood light would come on. I stayed in the truck, and saw him approach. He looked like a tourist, shorts and a flowered shirt on. And I had my dog with me who looks like a pit bull, and I knew if I let her out, lets just say it wouldn’t have been pretty.
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A friend on FB reminded me it’s Kendrick Johnson’s birthday today. My heart and thoughts are with his family. They may never know who killed their son.
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Mindyme, thanks for the info. Yes — his parents might never know who killed Kendrick, but there’s a good chance that if the killer(s) get away, they will kill again the next time for the same reason. They won’t keep getting away.
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You’re so right, one day they will be caught. Having gotten away with murder, yes, they will do it again
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North Carolina… need I say more?
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Hey Jackie! And here I was thinking that all ex-confederate states realized and accepted that they lost the war.
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I was born ad raised in NC so I know there are non-racist people there but there are many who are and that saddens me greatly. On a lighter note, NC dropped the ban on gay marriage. Now I get to look at hateful gay-hate posters for a while. 🙂 😦 ❤
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Jackie,
Haha! If the gay-hate posters don’t approve of gay marriage, then they shouldn’t marry a gay person.
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That is exactly what I’ve been telling them. 😀
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Jackie,
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Reblogged this on sXe The Edge.
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Hey Envy! Welcome to Blackbutterfly 7 and thanks for the reblog.
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You’re welcome.
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BTW, the polo guy John Goodman’s DUI vehicular homicide retrial is live now at this link.
this is the rich asshole who claims his brand new Bentley malfunctioned causing it to accelerate thru a stoplight and smash into a college kid going to his sister’s birthday party. then he leaves the scene after watching the kid’s car he just crashed into slide into a dark murky canal and NOT helping the kid helpless& trapped to drown all by himself!
http://www.wpbf.com/news/live-retrial-of-john-goodman/28985718
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Thanks for this, Shannon.
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“The police department defended their actions, saying there had been some burglaries in the community….” Typical! If there have been burglaries in the area, its like martial law has been declared? Every black man becomes a suspect? Sounds like Mark O’Mara’s defense of George Zimmerman. Mark O’Mara Wants to Have An Honest Dialogue on Race? Cough!
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And, THANK YOU for the reblog. 🙂
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