Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Monday urged Detroit’s police chief to solely hire black employees as analysts to run their facial recognition program, claiming other ethnicities believe black people “all look the same,” according to the Detroit News.
“Analysts need to be African-Americans, not people that are not,” Tlaib reportedly told Detriot police chief James Craig during a tour of the Real Time Crime Center, the city’s 24-hour threat-gathering hub where facial recognization is used to identify suspects. “I think non-African-Americans think African-Americans all look the same!” the freshman congresswoman added, arguing that Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and John Lewis (D-GA) are often confused for one another because they are both black and bald.
Tlaib’s suggestion seemingly irked Craig, who is black, prompting him to respond: “I trust people who are trained, regardless of race, regardless of gender,”