Tyler Perry has called the alleged racial profiling of his friends at an airport, an “affront to our dignity”.
A lawsuit was filed by comedians Eric André and Clayton English, earlier this year, after both were stopped by authorities at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.
Several high-profile actors, including 54-year-old “Madea” star Perry, filed a friend-of-the-court brief as part of the submission alleging racial discrimination. “Fall For Your Type” singer Jamie Foxx, Empire star Taraji P Henson, Atlas actor Sterling K Brown and Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page, also made contributions to the suit.
“André and English were targeted and stopped by Clayton County Police Department (CCPD) officers, several months apart, on jet bridges in Atlanta’s airport while they were steps from boarding their flights,” Perry wrote in a column for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Although the pair had been cleared by TSA security, Perry alleged they were approached and targeted because of the “colour of their skin”. He cited several statistics on racial disparities in security stops from André and English’s team at the Policing Project at New York University School of Law, as well as Jones Day, Lawrence & Bundy and Canfield Law.
Perry commented on the broader issue of racism in America as he added that “law enforcement agencies engaging in racial profiling and trying to hide the truth about it is nothing new in this country.”
Although he acknowledged the incident was not unique, Perry noted the impact on the Black community each time an allegedly discriminatory event was made public.
“Still, each time it happens, we are reminded that, as Black people, we are viewed — even by our own government — as less worthy of respect and constitutional protection than our white friends, neighbours and colleagues.
“And when we are singled out by police, the very officials who have sworn to protect us, we are faced with the very real horrors of what can, and all too often does go wrong when police officers interact with Black people.”
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He added, “every act of racial discrimination is a broken promise, an affront to our dignity, an insult to Atlanta’s history and a vestige of a history that America must leave behind.”
“When racial discrimination occurs unchecked, it threatens that growth,” Perry wrote. “Black people must have the freedom to travel without worrying about being stopped because of the colour of our skin.”
