Former CNN anchor and current BET host T.J. Holmes was pulled over near his Atlanta home yesterday for what he called in a tweet “driving while black.”
Driving while black ain’t no joke! instagr.am/p/NtNk4mt9Xg/
— TJ Holmes (@tjholmes) July 30, 2012
T.J. joined Michael Eric Dyson last night as “kind of a reluctant guest” to explain the incident and discuss the racial divisions that still pervade American life.
Holmes explained he was about 1.5 miles from his house when a police car started following him closely, for at least a mile or two.
“(I) knew something was up,” said Holmes. “I anticipated his lights coming on. Sure enough, they did.”
Holmes explained (and demonstrated) that whenever he’s pulled over the police, he sticks his arms out the window and crosses his hands so that the officer can see that he’s not an immediate threat.
“You do that because you’re a black man and you don’t want them to think you have a gun or anything,” Dyson clarified for the audience.
“I don’t want that officer nervous when he walks up to the door,” Holmes said. “That’s just something literally my mother has taught me to do.”
Holmes said he specifically asked several times why was he stopped.
The officer said it was make sure he had insurance on the car.
“He even asked me for a bill of sale on the car,” said Holmes. “He wasn’t rude or anything necessarily, but he didn’t have a reason for pulling me over. And I was, I was frustrated at the time, Dyson, and I tweeted about it.”









