Another Case Against Blackface

Last week (or the week before) I heard about a rash of bank robberies that was going on in the tri-state which is odd because I never watch the  local news.  They showed a the picture of the alleged robber who was dark skinned with a wide nose and wearing a hoodie.  I looked close just in case I knew the guy and could drop a dime on him (hell, Crime Stoppers pay, y’all,  and a sistah needs some new shoes). 

smile for the camera

But, alas, he didn’t look familiar.

Well they caught him.  And here’s his picture:

Conrad Zdzierak

In case you didn’t catch it, this is the guy who robbed five banks in one day.  Check it side by side:

See the resemblance?

So for a week the police has been looking for a black offender when the whole time it was just a white guy wearing an elaborate mask/blackface.

Acting on a tip, officers from several departments served a search warrant at the Extended Stay America Hotel at 320 Glensprings Drive in Springdale Wednesday afternoon where they arrested Zdzierak.

Officers discovered a red dye pack from a bank had exploded inside a vehicle that belongs to Zdzierak.

Police then tried to enter Zdzierak’s room, but were encountered by a dog that bit one of the officers, prompting one of them to fire their gun.

Once inside, officers discovered evidence, including a Hollywood-style mask linking Zdzierak to six robberies.

“The suspect seen in the surveillance photographs and that we were looking for, we believed to be an African American male. The suspect was actually a male, white, who was wearing an elaborate disguise,” said Lieutenant Michael Mathis with the Springdale Police Department.

WCPO News April 14, 2009

This is 10 times worse than the pimp/ghetto parties where ill-informed young whites dress up in blackface to ridicule African Americans.  He’s framing African American males, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry style.  And it makes me wonder how many times he’s done it and if anyone has ever taken the fall because of him.

Hopefully it will give people pause whenever they watch the news and try to equivocate crime with the black community.  Who knows what the real story is of the face that flashes on the screen.