| Earlier this month, real estate agent Eric Brown met Roy Thorne and Thorne's teenage son to show them a house in a Grand Rapids suburb. What followed was painfully — terrifyingly — predictable: "A neighbor saw a Black man in a black car and drew a mistaken conclusion," David Von Drehle writes. The neighbor called the police, who surrounded the house with guns drawn and handcuffed Brown, Thorne and Thorne's son. The officers soon realized their mistake and released all three, but Brown and the Thornes were left feeling anger, fear, humiliation and more. Yes, Von Drehle acknowledges, "a number of days earlier, a different Black man in a different black car had been arrested at the same house." But that's not good enough. "It remains preposterous to say that this incident had nothing to do with race — race multiplied by gender. Any number of White real estate agents in actual black Mercedes sedans could have pulled up to that house, opened that lockbox and gone inside, without a peep to 911." "Something is very wrong when three citizens going peacefully about their business are suddenly surrounded by guns, taken into custody and forced to prove their innocence," Von Drehle concludes. Something is very wrong indeed.  (AP) Something is very wrong when three citizens going peacefully about their business are surrounded by guns and forced to prove their innocence. By David Von Drehle ● Read more » | | | | This is not what a person who takes "full responsibility" looks like. By Dana Milbank ● Read more » | | | | It didn't take long for universities to figure out that a federal loan system imposes little or no pricing discipline on them — and to shape their graduate programs accordingly. By Charles Lane ● Read more » | | | | Some surprisingly public moves at the secretive NSA are one indication of the seriousness of the threat. By David Ignatius ● Read more » | | | | A local official will hold the line against the Florida governor amid a difficult situation. By Greg Sargent ● Read more » | | | How do his old on-air statements about sexual harassment square with the advice he gave his brother? By Erik Wemple ● Read more » | | | | The governor's resignation is good for New York and even better for the country — and for women in workplaces across America. By Ruth Marcus ● Read more » | | | | There is every reason to mandate vaccination — and no good reason not to. By Max Boot ● Read more » | | | | When people were fawning over his covid press conferences, they should have been looking deeper. By Paul Waldman ● Read more » | | | |
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