University of Southern California offers to look into the matter further after the 'Empire' actress claims her son became the target of unnecessary police attention while he was around the university.
- Mar 25, 2015
AceShowbiz - University of Southern California has responded to Taraji P. Henson's claim that her son was racially profiled while he was around the campus. John Thomas, the Executive director of USC's Department of Public Safety, issued a statement after the news made headlines.
"I was deeply disturbed to read news reports about a prospective student who felt profiled on or near campus because of his race," he said. "We encourage reporting of allegations of bias and I hope for the opportunity to have a conversation with the young man and his mother."
"I would like to look into this matter further and better understand who was involved and what took place. As someone who personally experienced racial profiling as a teenager, I have a stake in learning more about this incident and doing all I can to reach a just resolution."
Thomas added, "Any allegation of bias or unequal treatment by university officers would trigger an investigation that I would supervise along with the university's Office of Equity and Diversity."
In an interview with Uptown magazine, Henson previously revealed, "My child has been racially profiled. He was in Glendale, California and did exactly everything the cops told him to do, including letting them illegally search his car. It was bogus because they didn't give him the ticket for what he was pulled over for."
The "Empire" actress added, "Then he's at University of Southern California, the school that I was going to transfer him to, when police stopped him for having his hands in his pockets. So guess where he's going? Howard University. I'm not paying $50K so I can't sleep at night wondering is this the night my son is getting racially profiled on campus."
The star apparently got negative comments over her interview as she seemed to fire back at her critics on Twitter, "I really don't care what ppl think about what I do with MY LIFE AND ALL INVOLVED WITH ME!!!!! Give it a rest."
