Vernoff has been lauded for illustrating how her teenage crimes were written off as “mistakes” because she was white. (Source: Twitter, AP)
Even as anti-racism demonstrations continue in the US, the showrunner of the show Grey’s Anatomy, Krista Vernoff, took to Twitter to highlight how she had committed various crimes, but was never punished due to white privilege. The thread has sparked a serious conversation on race and Vernoff has been praised for being straightforward.
Opening up about all the crimes she has committed over her life in a candid conversation, Vernoff listed various things she did and how she was mostly let off with a warning. She also pointed out that other incidents had shown how it could have panned out differently for those who weren’t white. Vernoff wrote about how her crimes were written off as “mistakes” just because she was white, and that she still didn’t have a criminal record.
“When I was 15, I was chased through a mall by police who were yelling ‘Stop thief!’ I had thousands of dollars of stolen merchandise on me. I was caught, booked, sentenced to 6 months of probation, required to see a parole officer weekly. I was never even handcuffed,” she said in the start of her thread.
When I was 18, I was pulled over for drunk driving. When the Police Officer asked me to blow into the breathalyzer, I pretended to have asthma and insisted I couldn’t blow hard enough to get a reading.
— Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) June 15, 2020
“When I was 18, I was pulled over for drunk driving. When the Police Officer asked me to blow into the breathalyzer, I pretended to have asthma and insisted I couldn’t blow hard enough to get a reading,” she continued. “The officer laughed then asked my friends to blow and when one of them came up sober enough to drive, he let me move to the passenger seat of my car and go home with just a verbal warning.”
When I was 19, I got angry at a girl for flirting with my sister’s boyfriend and drunkenly attacked her in the middle of a party. I swung a gallon jug of water, full force, at her head. The police were never called.
— Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) June 15, 2020
The 46-year-old screenwriter who has never shied away from talking about things online, or highlighting such incidents in her show over the years, talked of her crimes to highlight how white people are treated differently by the police.
The cop pulled me aside and said, “You don’t punch people in front of cops,” then laughed and said that if I ever joined the police force he’d like to have me as a partner. I was sent into my apartment and told to stay there.
— Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) June 15, 2020
If I had been shot in the back by police after the shoplifting incident – in which I knowingly and willfully and soberly and in broad daylight RAN FROM THE COPS – would you say I deserved it?
— Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) June 15, 2020
Her tweets come after the death of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man who was shot and killed an Atlanta Police Department officer on June 12, amid the ongoing protests over George Floyd’s killing.
“Defunding the police is not about ‘living in a lawless society,’ she wrote. “It’s about the fact that in this country, we’re not supposed to get shot by police for getting drunk.”
I’m asking the white people reading this to think about the crimes you’ve committed. (Note: You don’t call them crimes. You and your parents call them mistakes.) Think of all the mistakes you’ve made that you were allowed to survive.
— Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) June 15, 2020
Footage from body and dash-mounted cameras showed Brooks chatted cooperatively with the two white officers, agreeing he had a couple of drinks to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and agreeing to a breath test.
Vernoff ended her thread saying: “The system that lets me live and murders Rayshard Brooks is a broken system that must change. Stop defending it. Demand the change. #BlackLivesMatter #WhitePrivilege #DefundPolice.”
The system that lets me live and murders Rayshard Brooks is a broken system that must change. Stop defending it. Demand the change. #BlackLivesMatter #WhitePrivilege #DefundPolice
— Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) June 15, 2020
Commenting about the thread, Director Ava Duvernay, a founder of an advocacy for justice reform, lauded her for “talking honestly about her experiences” as a white woman in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Its one of the best threads on the criminalisation of Black people that I’ve read lately,” Duvernay said.
The thread went viral and many highlighted how important it is for white people to talk about their privilege and be aware of the discrimination. Others also shared how they received different treatment from the police due to their race:
This is a white woman talking honestly about her experiences and its one of the best threads on the criminalization of Black people that I’ve read lately. https://t.co/l2AQJbB7I1
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 16, 2020
If you really wanna know. If you really, really, wanna understand why the streets are alive with such energy, this thread will explain. https://t.co/WozX7vEQnK
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) June 16, 2020
I hope this thread engages your mind and compels you to wonder why it’s so blatantly different for POC. We, as a society, must show that #BlackLivesMatter with laws, and policy reforms. #ONEV1 https://t.co/9oZvoZhTCy
— Danielle *essential services worker* #TeamJOE (@DemInRedOK) June 16, 2020
This is a great thread. It just shows how much mediocre and unaccomplished white people can make amazing lives for themselves (and become president, like Bush and Trump), while mediocre and unaccomplished black people end up dead, in jail, or in the projects with no future. Nice.
— Anand Raghunath (@RaghunathAnand) June 16, 2020
Same. No crimes or “mistakes” to speak of. Pulled over for traffic violation & cop was aggressive with hand on gun. Once pulled over w/ son (13yo at time but 6ft tall) 2 cops. 1 on his side to the rear w/ gun out while one talked to me aggressively. Cried I was so mad & scared.
— C. A. Lewis (@Rellygirl21) June 16, 2020
Trying to explain what it was. Cops yelled “GUN” and “let me see everyone’s hands!” so we all put our hands up. Both cops put their hands near their guns but never unclipped their holsters. If I were black I don’t believe I’d be here today.
— TOM (@tstandlickwl_20) June 15, 2020
White woman here. Between the ages of 16-18, I was pulled over probably 5 times for speeding in the Raleigh / Chapel Hill area. The only time I received a ticket was when a black man was in the passenger seat.
— Susan Harper (@BreakingHappy) June 15, 2020
Thank u for sharing Krista. Sadly black people& poc rarely get away with such with a mere pat on the back, probation or giggle from the cops. For some odd reason their lives always feel immediately threatened almost as if they’re trained 2 see & apprehend nonwhites differently💔
— TROLLZ 🍭 (@MilkieeMinaj) June 15, 2020
Violent protests had erupted in many cities across the US after a video emerged of a Minneapolis policeman suffocating Floyd by pinning him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The policeman, David Chauvin, has since been fired, arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
