Former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall posted video of a confrontation Thursday involving security guards that he says called the cops on him as he moved into his own home.
In the video, Marshall says the security guards called police due to an apparent threat. But Marshall wasn't a threat — he was only moving while Black.
"This is the problem," Marshall says repeatedly, documenting his experience of seemingly being profiled in his own neighborhood. His kids were in the car, he said.
He calls Westin, Florida — where the home is located — an affluent area, to which he's met with a response off camera that other Black people live in the neighborhood, an apparent attempt to deny racial profiling.
Former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall @BMarshall posts video of security guard calling cops on him and his kids as they move into their new home in Weston #BecauseFlorida https://t.co/rEUT0HSnRj pic.twitter.com/ox9vj34g8I
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) August 27, 2020
Marshall spent time with both the Jets and Giants during his NFL tenure.
Back in 2018, PIX11 News reported on a similar situation.
Though it didn't involve a six-time Pro Bowler who spent 13 seasons in the NFL, it chronicled another story of a Black man in the cross-hairs of police for simply moving into a new home.
Cops were called to the scene of a "burglary in progress" inside a building on the UWS.
It turns out a resident called 911, claiming a black man "with a weapon" was "trying to break down the door." That black man was in fact a new tenant moving in. pic.twitter.com/FLkmWZWoMd
— Andrew Ramos (@AndrewRamosTV) April 30, 2018
Bronx-native Darren Martin had a career in D.C.; he worked on Captiol Hill and in the Obama White House. But when he decided to come back to the city, police were called on him as he moved into his new apartment on the Upper West Side.
The report was for a burglary in progress. Police said they thought he had a weapon.
But Martin wasn't breaking into the building or taking things out — he was moving in.
There was nothing criminal about it, an investigation later proved.
"As a Black man when you're in an all-white environment, you're cognizant of that," he said.
When asked about the call that started the incident, Martin said, "Get to know folks before you make those assumptions."
