50 Cent, like many others, is outraged that a black CNN reporter, Omar Jimenez, was arrested along with his crew while they were covering the protests in Minneapolis, while his white colleague, Josh Campbell, was not. Early Friday morning (May 29th), CNN reported that one of their correspondents had been taken into police custody along with two members of his reporting crew.
The arrest was captured on live television, the footage from which shows Omar, along with producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez, clearly identifying themselves as journalists. However, they were held in police custody for over an hour before being released. Gov. Tim Walz later apologized for the senseless arrest, insisting that it should never have happened.
The arrest of Omar and his crew was upsetting enough, but it was brought to the public's attention that another CNN reporter, Josh Campbell, had also been covering the protests in Minneapolis at the same time. Josh, who is a white man, indicated that police had in fact approached him as well, but allowed him to continue reporting. "I identified myself," Josh recalled. "They said, 'OK, you're permitted to be in the area.' I was treated much differently than (Jimenez) was." This difference in treatment lead many to believe Omar's arrest was racially charged, including Fif.
"One they let walk away, one they took to jail," 50 wrote on his post, which shows a photo of Josh and a photo of Omar side-by-side. "This sh*t is sad." Following the arrest, CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers commented on the significant role that race played in the situation. "We have a white reporter on the ground, and we have a brown reporter on the ground," Bakari noted. "They are a block apart. The brown reporter is arrested and the white reporter is telling us what's happening. We saw a reporter who is educated, who is brown, who is doing his job better than anybody ... (who) was in harm's way, letting the American people see what's going on, on the ground. He complied. He said he would move...You almost have to laugh not to just be furious."
A few hours after they were released from police custody, Omar and his crew returned to the streets to continue covering the riots. "And we’re back," he tweeted.
