NYPD Tackled Black Pro Tennis Star

NYPD tackled yet another black man as he was on his phone and not doing anything wrong. What was this black guy doing? Was he possibly suspicious looking? Was he someone that might have caused some trouble in the past.

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian (The Point) hosts of The Young Turks discuss. How would this situation be different if James Blake wasn’t African American? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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James Blake is a 35-year-old former tennis pro and former Harvard student who is in New York City to make appearances related to the ongoing U.S. Open. He's also black, and he says he was slammed to the ground and detained outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in midtown Manhattan Wednesday by five white NYPD officers who apparently believed he was a criminal suspect. From the New York Daily News:

Blake said he had just answered a few questions from a writer for a tennis magazine and was texting when he looked up and saw someone in shorts and a T-shirt charging at him, splitting the doorman outside the Hyatt, an official hotel for the U.S. Tennis Association ... Blake said the officer, who he said was not wearing a badge, picked him up and threw him down on the sidewalk.

Blake was told he'd been identified as a suspect in an identity theft ring and spent 15 minutes in handcuffs, he says, before being let go with an apology (although the apology came from a different officer than the one who'd tackled him). "To me it's as simple as unnecessary police force, no matter what my race is," he told the Daily News. "In my mind there's probably a race factor involved, but no matter what there's no reason for anybody to do that to anybody."

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Young Turk (n), 1. Young progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement, or political party. 2. Young person who rebels against authority or societal expectations. (American Heritage Dictionary)