The Philadelphia police force may be losing the battle on violent crime, but they're winning the battle against white guys with cornrows, having ordered a Caucasian cop off the street after he showed up looking like Axl Rose.Officer Thomas Strain, a five-year veteran in Philly's 35th district, came to work on Sept. 3 with the hairstyle and was immediately taken off his patrol and put behind a desk until he cut off his braids.
"It's absolutely discriminatory," said one officer who wished to remain anonymous. "It's not like he shaved a Nazi sign or something anti-black or anti-Hispanic on his head. It's just cornrows. I don't know what the problem is."
But police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said it had nothing to do with discrimination and everything to do with Strain's failure to look "professional." He pointed out that the cornrows may have prevented a proper military fit for his hat, though he couldn't explain why this wasn't an issue for black officers with cornrows.
Regardless of whether the actions were discriminatory or not, it means there's one less white guy with cornrows on the street. And that can't be a bad thing.
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Wednesday 23 September
By C.A.
If one cop loses them I say they all do. Otherwise The Man is just trying to hold a white cop with cornrows down.
Seriously though, they probably thought he would get laughed off the streets when he went out.
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Wednesday 23 September
By asker
come on now.i don't think any white person should walk around with cornrows.( man or woman) it just doesn't look right on them!
Wednesday 23 September
By TC
Hell they don't look right on any man, black or white, braids ars for women....lmao Just put a skirt on him and send him back to his beat!
Wednesday 23 September
By RGB
If I got pulled over by a cop in cornrows, I'd be laughing all the way to jail.
Seriously, only women and children should be allowed to wear cornrows- and just Black folk at that.
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Wednesday 23 September
By Aaron
RGB: I'm not surprised at your closed minded comment, that in itself speaks volumes of the negative indoctrination in your household, especially if you have children. Children are born pure and innocent, free of hatred, bias and intolerance. But as stated, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, infestation started, once on the ground, your family members and close friends continue the internal rotting process. I will however mention a celebrated actress with braids and white female, Bo Derek! Did you denigrate her......A-H?
Wednesday 23 September
By rgb
Aaron- I'm surprised that YOU'RE surprised, since you don't know me. . . and I now know that I don't care to know you.
But to answer the point you buried in your rant: It's an aesthetic thing, not a race thing. I don't find ANYONE in cornrows attractive, male/female black/white young/old; I do think they look better on black people, though. I don't NEED to find cornrows attractive, just to show some other 'A-H' I'm not internally rotting.
Furthermore, cornrows don't give the vibe of 'authority' to me. Period. I don't take people who wear cornrows seriously. I think 'on-duty male cop with cornrows,' I get cognitive dissonance.
Thank you for worrying more about what I think about Bo Derek, instead of the potential issues, like:
- Was this done to all cops with cornrows, or just this one?
- Is it racially motivated?
- What effect does hairstyle have on police work?
- Doesn't the Philly police brass have more pressing issues?
And while I wouldn't 'denigrate' Ms Derek for fer cornrows, I also don't find her attractive with them. Happy, ya DFH?
Wednesday 23 September
By Lance Harris
As a former police officer, I can tell you that I really didn't care WHAT my partner looked like...as long as he or she was able to perform their duties professionally and faithfully. Sounds like some "racial profiling" is going on at that particular precinct. What if a black police officer had caucasian-style hair? What if an officer's heritage was of mixed races, etc.? (As a species, we humans are never going to progress if we don't become "color blind" toward one another...)
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Wednesday 23 September
By heather
How the tides are turning. How come it's discriminatory any time a black person is told they can't do something, but not here when it involves a white man?? If there are black cops with cornrows, how can you tell this white cop he can't do it?? Seems to me as if though the tides have indeed turned, and white people are now the ones experiencing racism more often. The problem is that black people think it's ok for discrimination against whites, just not the other way around. Makes me sick. How about if they stop basing rules on color, and just make general rules for EVERYONE. Is that really so hard?????/
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Thursday 24 September
By Serious comment
Thank goodness they got this idiot off the streets talk about needing to act your age
it makes me sick that anyone including blacks would want to have an idiotic hairstyle.
Thank goodness this officers high command chose to have heart and a set of balls when so many of our leaders give in to the unethical set of demands from those that choose a sinfull life style.I would not like to see any of my Tax dollars paid to officers who would like to blend there unprofessional image with the seriousness of law enforcement if it were me I would have just fired him.
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Wednesday 23 September
By Bobby
I think youre all missing the point- this kid is a highly decorated officer and an Iraq War Veteran who I know has been involved in serious combat- injured by IEDs and survived. I think he is doing this as a form of protest against the spineless bosses above him that tolerate such nonsense as Beards, Braids and Burkas if they are worn on non-white officers.
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Friday 25 September
By Stephen
Wow. Is this the direction society is going in. It seems to be. Why is it ok for a white person to be removed but not a black person? The worst thing about this situation is that the majority seem to completely "OK" with the idea of removing the white person but not the black officers. It is ok to descriminate against the white individual because he automatically had better opportunities afforded to him so give the black cop a break and get rid of the white man. Sounds ridiculous to me too but it is happening nationwide. The American white male between the ages of 16 and 40 are the most descriminated against persons in the entire United States.
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Thursday 01 October
By debbie
i have seen wemon cops with cornrows under there hats
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Wednesday 07 October
By Anonymous
Cornrows look silly on anyone.
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Wednesday 21 October
By Jon
This goes on all the time and everywhere. Whites doing things to other whites that they would and NEVER COULD do to any other race because they can get away with it. Tell me if that white guy told a black guy he could not have that hair style !!! Holy cow...Hre comes Rev. Jesse Jackson & it would be top story on all the news about how we are still dealing with racism!!!
It is the F'N no good whites that ruined it for us GOOD WHITE PEOPLE. I don't blame the blacks for wanting to take over, I blame them S-Bag whites that let them. That is why they laugh at the whites..."we are so scared of them" says the Pu**y white people but not me and my family, we are not part of that BS and no one will laugh in my face, as I will have no part of tearing down my own race. Wake up white people.
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