Pictured above is CNN reporter Oscar Jimenez, back on the job after being arrested without being given a reason by while covering the protests sparked by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. He and 2 other credentialed journalists in his crew, producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez, were taken into custody while on camera, which is the sort of thing that you’d expect to happen only in what Donald Trump would call “shithole countries”:
I’m going to get some “Well, actually…” responses for this observation, but it should be noted the one guy in the CNN crew with the white-bread name was not arrested:
CNN’s Josh Campbell, who also was in the area but not standing with the on-air crew, said he, too, was approached by police, but was allowed to remain.
“I identified myself … they said, ‘OK, you’re permitted to be in the area,'” recounted Campbell, who is white. “I was treated much differently than (Jimenez) was.”
Jimenez is black and Latino. Kirkos is white, and Mendez is Hispanic.
Jimenez and crew have since been released, and over the next little while, we need to ask — and keep asking — this important question: Why was this allowed to happen?