‘We Have You on Videotape’: Boston Cafe Employee Calls Cops on Retired Black Journalist, Falsely Accuses Him of Obscene Act, But He Refuses to Leave

Phillip Martin, a Black 71-year-old retired investigative reporter, was denied service at a suburban Boston coffee shop last month after he was falsely accused of urinating inside the store while being abusive to staff. “Are you mistaking me for someone else?” the Black man asked the employee, accusing him inside the Cambridge, Massachusetts, shop he was visiting on Nov. 20 for a meeting with another journalist.  Phillip Martin, an award-winning journalist, was falsely accused by a coffee shop employee of having urinated in front of employees on a previous occasion. (Photo: Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and x.com/phillipwgbh) “No, it’s you. We have you on videotape,” responded the female barista in Caffe Nero, a European company that has several locations throughout the New England area. But it turned out to be another case of falsely accusing a Black person of “matching the description” of another Black person alleged to have committed crimes, something Atlanta Black Star has reported on many times over the years. Even modern technology, like facial recognition cameras and license plate readers, has a much higher rate of falsely profiling Black people as criminals.  ‘We Are Livid!’: Teen Girl Strip-Searched Three Times By Florida...