On Saturday morning, the LA Times published an op-ed by Daniele Watts, whose encounter with an LAPD officer sparked further conversation about the relationship between African-Americans and white police in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo. Watts—best known for her work in Django Unchained—was detained (but not arrested) for refusing to show her ID to a police officer who had been called on a report of lewd conduct.
In the piece, Watts denies that she and boyfriend Brian Lucas were having sex in the front seat of their car, as had previously been suggested. Watts said she refused to give the officer her ID because “it was obvious nothing illegal was going on,” but admitted that her handling of the situation could have been better.
“Could I have been calmer, or more patient? Certainly.,” Watts said. “Still, the sergeant seemed to be trying to teach me a lesson.”
Watts goes on to pose a number of rhetorical questions that she doesn’t really answer. Among them:
- Do I regret threatening to call my publicist?
- Do I think the officer was "racially profiling" me by answering a call?
- Would someone have called the police if it had been a white couple? Would the sergeant have been so zealous in "investigating" what was clearly not a crime?
Watts cites an incident that occurred when she was 16 as part of her mistrust of police, and says that her father’s warning that “You don't want to mess with the police. They can judge you unfairly and make life very hard” still resonates with her today.
[via LA Times]
