faith ekakitie’s nasty pokemon go experience

three things i wanted to talk about here on richyrocks.com: police brutality against black people in the u.s., pokemon go and iowa hawkeye football, all came together in an unusual incident this summer that thankfully ended without violence. iowa hawkeye defensive tackle faith ekakitie was surrounded and searched by iowa city police officers while walking in a local park, listening to music and playing pokemon go.

faith ekakitie's iowa hawkeye roster photo
faith ekakitie

ekakitie fit the profile (had the same physical characterisitics) of a fugitive criminal supposedly on the loose in the area. watch footage (film) of the confrontation from one of the police officer’s body cams here.

fun english practice :) richyrocks english on youtube

pokemon go
be aware of your surroundings when u play pokemon go. look up occasionally to make sure cops don’t have their guns on u.

faith described what happened in a facebook post

from the police officers point of view, all they knew was that a bank had just been robbed. the suspect was a large black male, wearing all black.

had just been robbed is past perfect.  it is also passive voice (been robbed)–>there is no mention of who robbed the bank.  wear is for talking about what clothes people have on.  if spanish is your first language it’s a common mistake to say use instead of wear, based on the spanish verb usar. don’t do it 🙂

faith ekakatie and coach ferentz
faith ekakitie talking to hawkeye head coach kirk ferentz. (david scrivner,iowa city press-citizen)

ekakitie explains that the police asked him to

turn around and place my hands up. i do not comply, they ask again, and again no response from me. so they all draw their guns and begin to slowly approach.

the police asked faith to turn around becuase they were approaching him from behind.  comply means follow instructions.  draw means the police pointed their guns at faith.

turn around
she has her back to the camera, then she turns around.

ekakitie feels the reports we read and hear about this type of conflict are not always accurate (correct)

in this situation, what the media would fail to let people know is that the suspect had his headphones in the entire time the police officers approached him initially.

faith ekakitie and jaleel johnson
iowa defensive tackles faith ekakitie & jaleel johnson. (jim slosiarek/the gazette-kcrg)

he recognizes the danger he was in, but also analyzes how his experience connects to what is happening in society as a whole.

misunderstandings happen all the time and just like that things can go south very quickly. it is extremely sad that our society has brainwashed us all to the point where we can’t feel safe being approached by the police officers in our respective communities. not all police officers are out to get you, but at the same time, not all people who fit a criminal profile are criminals.

misunderstanding is failed understanding. go south means become a bad situation, deterioratebrainwash means indoctrinate, persuade by aggressive or extreme means. being approached is another example of passive voice. out to get u means in pursuit of, trying to catch and/or destroy.

yoda says unlearn
unlearn

in spite of (not affected by) what ekakitie went through (experienced), he has maintained a gracious and forgiving attitude.

i would like the thank the iowa city police department for handling a sensitive situation very professionally. i would also urge people to be more aware of their surroundings because clearly i wasn’t. lastly, i would urge us all to at least to attempt to unlearn some of the prejudices that we have learned about each other and now plague our minds and our society.

aware means having knowledge, or being conscious.

faith ekakitie and the hawkeye defensive line
faith ekakitie & the iowa hawkeye defensive line (adam wesley, the gazette)

what do u think?  have u played pokemon go? what is the weirdest thing that has happened to u when u were playing? have u ever been in a situation when the police drew their guns and pointed them at  u?  how did u feel about it? share your experience under leave a reply


 

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