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Woman who inspired Swades stopped by US cops while on stroll

Published on 28 January, 2017
Woman who inspired  Swades stopped by US cops while on stroll

New York, Jan 29 

Aravinda Pillalamarri, the inspiration for "Swades", says she was stopped by police during her morning stroll in her hometown and questioned about her immigration status making her feel unequal because of her colour, according to media reports.

Pillalamari was stopped near her home in Bel Air in Maryland by a police officer after a neighbour had reported her as suspicious, she told the local Baltimore CBS television station on Friday.

Pillalamarri said: "I had just come out for a walk, so I didn't have my ID. And he said, 'Why don't you have ID? Are you here illegally?'."

"I didn't expect this to happen in Bel Air. Walking while brown?" she told the official.

The official replied: "No, no, no, nothing like that."

According to the Baltimore Sun, the incident took place on December 21 and Pillalamarri, 47, spoke out about it at a town commissioners board meeting earlier this month in Bel Air, where she had lived for 30 years.

When she asked if it was because of "walking while brown?" a police supervisor told her she "was under criminal investigation", the Sun quoted her as saying.

After checking her name on their computer system, Pillalamarri was allowed to go.

"Only when the supervisor asked 'are you here illegally' did my sense of colour, and of being unequal, come forth and interest in my civil rights take a back seat to get out of the situation safely," she told the town commissioners.

Bel Air Police chief Charles Moore defended the official. According to him, asking nationality is insensitive, but not racial profiling.

"They were trying to figure out why there was some hesitation in providing identification, that's why he asked if she was illegal," he said.

Although the incident in Maryland -- which is considered a progressive state -- took place after President Donald Trump's election but before he took office.

Such police behaviour after a racist neighbour complains about a non-white resident had been routine during former President Barack Obama's administration, as they have always been in the US.

In 2015, 58-year-old Sureshbhai Patel, who was visiting his son in Madison in Alabama state, was physically harassed by police.

Patel was stopped by police near his son's house after a neighbour complained that a "black" person was prowling around the neighbourhood.

He suffered serious injuries that left him partially paralysed.

Two prosecution attempts to convict the police officer on civil rights violation failed because juries in both cases could not agree on a verdict.

The attack was captured by a camera mounted on the police car and officials tried to prosecute the officer because there was a public outcry.

A case that received national attention involved the distinguished African American Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates in 2009.

A neighbour, who saw him trying enter his own house in Cambridge in Massachusetts, called police. They arrested the professor inside his home and charged him with disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped.

Obama, who is personal friend of Gates, called the police action stupid and said the incident showed "how race remains a factor in this society".

Another case in 2015 involved African American senior corporate executive Fay Wells who has an Ivy League MBA.

After a neighbour called the police, 19 of them charged into her own apartment in Santa Monica in California with guns drawn and bringing along a police dog and held saying that she was burglarising her own apartment.

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andrew 2017-01-29 07:59:48
Hope the self-claimed intelligent Indians' will realize the real happenings and stop singing praise to white fanatics. While you claim to be a christian & sit in church filled with hatred; millions are fleeing from terror. The world is very small now, poverty, unrest, cruelty in any part of the world will spread like wild fire and turn this world to an inferno. Russia is pushing US to start a war with China.
Stop spreading evil and fanatic fake news claiming yourself to be intelligent and true Christian.
First they came for Muslims, i did not fight because i am not a Muslim ......then they came for -brown, black, hindu, indian ..... i did not fight because i am safe because i am a christian. But finally they came for me ......
true christian 2017-01-29 13:20:54
വംശ- വർണ്ണ വെറിയനും വെറുപ്പിന്റെ പ്രത്യയശാസ്ത്രക്കാരനുമായ ചെകുത്താന് എന്തിനാണ് ബൈബിൾ.
Narayanan 2017-01-29 09:10:41
Those christians looking for the 2nd coming of jesus -  jesus is in a no fly zone, he will be detained in the airport and send back
വിദ്യാധരൻ 2017-01-29 16:02:36
യേശു അടുത്ത തവണ വരുമ്പോൾ മധ്യാകാശം വരെ വരുകയുള്ളു എന്നാണ് ബൈബിൾ പഠിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്. പുള്ളിക്കാരനെ കുറ്റം പറഞ്ഞിട്ട് കാര്യമില്ല.  എന്ത് ക്രൂരതയാണ് സ്വന്ത ജനമായ യഹൂദന്മാരും ക്രൈസ്തവർ  കൂടി കാണിച്ചത് . ക്രൂശിച്ചു കളഞ്ഞില്ലേ ആ മനുഷ്യ സ്നേഹിയെ .  ഈ കവിത യേശു പറയുന്നതായി സങ്കല്പിച്ചെഴുതിയതാണ്  = വിദ്യാധരൻ  

                         യേശു 

വരികില്ല ഞാനിനി ഭൂവിലോട്ട് 
തൊടുകില്ലെൻ പാദമാമണ്ണിലിനി 
ഇനി കളി ഞാൻ കളിച്ചിടുമ്പോൾ
മധ്യാകാശേ നിന്നായിരിക്കും 
തന്നില്ലേ നിങ്ങൾ മുൾക്കീരീടം 
അടിയെത്ര തന്നു ചാട്ടവാറാൽ 
നിണമെന്റെ മേനിയിൽ ചാലുകീറി 
വേദനായാൽ ഞാൻ പുളഞ്ഞുപോയി 
എന്താണ് ഞാൻ ചെയ്ത കുറ്റമെന്ന് 
ചിന്തിച്ചിട്ടെത്തും  പിടിയുമില്ല 
നിങ്ങളെപ്പോലെ നിൻ അയൽവാസിയേയും 
സനേഹിക്കുകയെന്നത് കൊടിയ തെറ്റോ?
തൊലിയുടെ നിറത്താൽ നിങ്ങളൊക്കെ 
സംഭ്രാന്തരാകുന്നതെന്തു കൊണ്ടാ ?
ഒരു പക്ഷെ നിങ്ങടെ ഉള്ളിലൊക്കെ 
ഭയമെന്ന ചെകുത്താൻ ഒളിഞ്ഞിരിപ്പൂ  ?
തൊലിയല്ല ബുദ്ധിയിൻ മാനദണ്ഡം 
മനമാണെന്നെത് ഓർത്തുകൊൾക ! 
അല്ല പറഞ്ഞിട്ടു കാര്യമില്ല 
തൊലികൊണ്ടു ചിന്തിപ്പോർക്കെന്തറിയാം?
കറുപ്പും വെളുപ്പും പിംഗലവും 
കൂടാതെ അനേക വർണ്ണ രസ്മീം   
ധവള വർണ്ണത്തിൽ ഉൾച്ചേർന്നിരിപ്പു 
കഥയില്ല ഇക്കാര്യം പറഞ്ഞതിനാൽ 
തലമണ്ടേൽ കേറില്ലേൽ എന്ത് ചെയ്യും 
വെറുതെ എൻപേരിൽ നിങ്ങളെല്ലാം 
അടിപിടി കൂടുന്നെതെന്തിനാണ് 
ഇനി ഞാൻ ഭൂമിയിൽ വന്നുപോയാൽ 
പൊടിപോലും കാണില്ല തീർച്ച തന്നെ
ഇനി കളി ഞാൻ കളിച്ചിടുമ്പോൾ
മധ്യാകാശേ നിന്നായിരിക്കും
തുടരുക ചതിയൊക്കെ മുടങ്ങിടാതെ 
മണ്ടന്മാർ ധാരാളം കൂടെയില്ലേ?

true christian 2017-01-29 13:54:47
how could i forget the last dumbass republican president who also didnt bother reading security briefings then lied us into a war that killed another 5,000 american soldiers, sent home 100,000 wounded, and still wont pay for them to be cared for? plus killed 1 million people in the middle east and turned thousands into terrorists. i was safe under obama. lets see how safe we are under trump. in the mean time trump is a disgrace to america.
 what you read in e malayalee as christians are fake, hypocrites. Do not judge christanity by what they say, like don't judge Hinduism by RSS and Islam by ISIS
we are imigrants, do not some fools deceive you- like we are christians and nothing will happen to us. White extermites consider us a foreign. No one is safe.
 some states has open carry law and stand your ground law. They can shoot us with no reason.
shame on all those who voted for trump. But not too late to join all protest to get him down.
വിദ്യാധരൻ 2017-01-29 17:05:35
യദാർത്ഥ ക്രൈസ്തവർക്ക് വേണ്ടി 

വരികയാ സ്നേഹിത ഞങ്ങളെല്ലാം
വരിവരിയായി കൂടെയുണ്ട് 
ഇവിടെ  സമരത്തിൻ സമയമായി
ഇവിടെ കാഹളം ഊതിടറായി 
വെറുതെ യേശുവിൻ പേരുചൊല്ലി 
കറങ്ങുന്നുള്ളിൽ തിരുടർ  വെറുപ്പുമായി 
ഇറ്റിളവ് നികുതിയിൽ നൽകിയപ്പോൾ 
ഒറ്റു ക്രൈസ്തവർ യേശുവിനെ 
അലറിയവർ അവനെ ക്രൂശിക്കുവാൻ
അലറി ട്രംപിനെ രാജാവാക്കാൻ 
ഒരു ബൈബിൾ കയ്യിൽ കണ്ടിടുകിൽ 
കരുതല്ലേ അവരാണ് യേശുവിൻ ശിഷ്യരെന്ന് 
ആടിന്റെ വേഷത്തിൽ ചുറ്റിടുന്ന 
പീഡാകാരനാം ചെന്നായണെന്നോർത്തിടുക 

മലയാളത്തില്‍ ടൈപ്പ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്യുക