Hey y'all!
I usually use this little section to update y'all on a few stories on my radar for the week, but I need to get something off my chest about the Ryan Coogler story this week.
Coogler was arrested at a Bank of America in Atlanta after attempting to withdraw $20,000 in cash from his own account. The Los Angeles Police Department and Bank of America knew exactly what they were doing and they were wrong as hell. Their actions could've cost Coogler his life and probably already cost him a lot of trauma and strife.
Regardless of if Coogler was an acclaimed director or not, he was well within his right to walk into that bank, write a note asking for discretion in handling his large withdrawal and walk out of that bank safely with the money from his bank account.
Instead, he was discriminated against, held at gunpoint and arrested. The anti-Blackness (yes, Black people can be anti-Black) and ableism in this incident and a lot of the conversations around this incident are gross. It makes no sense to me and honestly makes me sick to my stomach.
But nothing racist that happens in this country surprises me anymore. It's 2022, after all.
— Taryn Finley
