[guest post by Dana]

A week after the confrontation between “Django Unchained” actress Daniele Watts and the LAPD, Los Angeles civil rights advocate Earl Ofari Hutchinson says he would like Watts to apologize to the LAPD. He requested this after viewing the released photographs and listening to the audio recording of Watts and the officer:

“I was one that was very outspoken about it,” he said. “We take racial profiling very seriously. It’s not a play thing. It’s not trivial.”

…

“We began to see pictures that actually show that perhaps there was probable cause for the stop. There was provable cause for the detention,” he said. “You must have your facts. You can’t rush to judgment. If you do that, you have no credibility.”

He hopes it’s a lesson learned for others.

“It’s like crying wolf,” he said. “After awhile, it has no meaning.”

Several comments left on Watts’s Facebook page pointed out the obvious:

“I’m black, but the latest audio that was released proved to MANY people that this Danielle Watts actress is a calculating, attention seeking DIVA who refused to cooperate,” wrote Jordan Dermont. “The cop was doing his job, was professional AND WAS VERY POLITE!”

Brittany Nicole wrote, “I guess you would be the girl who cried wolf? I am ashamed of this whole thing. Can we as black people stop pulling the race card EVERY single time we get in trouble.”

Watts has not responded.

Not jumping to conclusions but waiting until after the facts are known and an investigation is complete should be color-blind common sense.

–Dana