The Dark Side Of Venus

This is Eugene Ejike Obiora, he was strangled to death by a Norwegian police officer in 2006. The officer who killed him was acquitted, and has since been promoted to operation leader. 

In the police logs Obiora is always referred to by the n-word. 

Two of the policemen who were involved in the arrest had previously been reported for violence on 14 different occasions. The police officer who killed Obiora had been reported three times. 

The same officer was also involved in the arrest of Sophia Baidoo, a Ghanaian woman who worked as cleaner at a bank. She was arrested at her own workplace after a colleague had activated the safety alarm on her, refusing to believe that she was supposed to be cleaning there that night. She could prove that she worked there, and knew the codes to the security system, yet the police would not believe her. During the arrest, Baidoo was subjected to racist verbal abuse, and put in the same kind of chokehold that killed Obiora.

While lethal force is thankfully rare within the Norwegian police force, racism is still a massive problem. A recent study showed that among a group of 120 Norwegian teenagers, almost all of the young minority boys had at some point been subjected to racial profiling. These “random” stops are often deliberately made to be humiliating, with the police asking minorities how they are able to afford [expensive thing], or detaining them in public spaces (there was a recent episode from a McDonald’s where police lined up two minority boys—who were not accused of anything—and took pictures of them in front of the costumers). 

edit: it happened again. hearing of at least 30 arrests tonight.