On September 8, Derwill Ewans, a Texas man, visited a local bank with a friend who was applying for a car loan. Ewans could never have predicted that this visit would take a turn for the worst. After meeting and conversing with loan officers, Ewans was unknowingly labeled by a teller as “suspicious.” He would soon be handcuffed and held at gunpoint for approximately 30 minutes.
Ewans, a black man, had been engaged in what he called “good conversation,” laughing and talking with loan officers. A teller who witnessed this engagement, found it quite “suspicious” and made a call to 911. Within minutes of the first call to 911, another was placed claiming Ewans had a gun.
Meanwhile, outside of the bank, Ewans’ girlfriend and her daughter were sitting outside in her car, when police surrounded her car, handcuffed her, and placed her and the child in a police car. Police then called Ewans on his cell phone, ordering him to come outside with his hands up. As Ewans obeyed the order, he was handcuffed and ordered to lie on the pavement at gunpoint.
He eventually was allowed to sit up, only to be questioned about his alleged weapon, one that didn’t exist. Gerald Meadow, an officer from the Frisco Police Department, said tellers thought that an armed robbery was about to occur. Frisco police told the Dallas Morning News that officers handled the case professionally.
When it was discovered that a mistake had been made, Ewans was released and Frisco police apologized. However, Ewans has decided to take legal action and has now hired a lawyer.
It is respectable to accept the apology of the Frisco police department, but how can an apology as such be valid in a society that consistently judges black men as criminals?
Perhaps this whole ordeal could have been avoided were it not for the bank tellers whose apparent ability to make valid judgments was not so clouded by the stereotypes of our society.Maybe they did not care to notice that Ewans had absolutely no intention to harm or rob anyone in the bank.
The headline of the article in the September 10, Dallas Morning News, reads ” Man mistaken for robber held at gunpoint.” However, regarding this situation, the word “mistaken” is incorrectly used. Ewans was not simply “mistaken” as being a bank robber, he was accused of being one.
Webster’s Dictionary defines the world mistake as the following:-misunderstanding of the meaning or intention of-to make a wrong judgment of the character or ability-to identify wrong-to confuse with another-to be wrongThe bank tellers who called 911 did not make a “mistake”; they were simply profiling this man. The only definition of “mistake” that would correctly apply to this situation is the last one. There was not a misunderstanding regarding this situation because Ewans was not robbing the bank. This was not an instance of mistaken identity because there was no one else who was present or in the bank committing a crime that Ewans could have been mistaken for. They were completely wrong to jeopardize this man just for being sociable. They were wrong for calling the police when there was no clear proof or evidence that Ewans was about to rob the bank and that he had a gun.
In other cases of actual bank robberies, suspects wear dark clothing or disguises that shield their identity, approach the bank teller (and certainly not a loan officer), because it is clear who has better access to the money. If there were a gun, or any type of object that would appear as a weapon, it probably would have been presented to the teller upon the robbery. And why would anyone stand and socialize with anyone before they were going to commit a robbery?
The situation demands answers. How are bank tellers trained for such situations, and are they taught to set stereotypes aside?
In America, black men are frequently viewed as criminals. When television news stations cover a crime, the suspect is often described as a black man, 5’10, 165 pounds, wearing baggy jeans, and a white or colored shirt. How many black men do you see on a daily basis that fit that description? The answer is a majority of them. Not all black men are criminals, and it is true that not all black men dress in baggy clothing.
However, when you look at the demographics in America it is clear to see that this stereotype is clearly ridiculous. Black people make up only 13 percent of the American population; 49 percent of the black population is in prison, partially due to our often-unjust judicial system.
So with this extreme imbalance, who is really committing these crimes? There are not enough black people left to commit all of these crimes.
I am not a black male; however I have a younger brother, who will soon realize how the world views him, despite of who he really is. I want him to be able to withstand anything that this society throws at him, regardless of how they judge him. Once they know him, I want them to realize how wrong they were about him, other black males and the black community as a whole.
Our society needs to become concerned with how deeply stereotypes have become rooted within. We need to understand that criminal intentions lie not in the color of skin, but in decisions people decide to make.