Skip to content
Navigating a New Political Landscape: View real-time updates about the impact of and Northeastern's response to recent political changes.
Apply
Stories

Massachusetts police data points to racial disparities in arrests

People in this story

NBC Boston, April 2021

When former Newton resident Tim Duncan and his wife were walking to the grocery store in May, they expected a leisurely stroll. Instead, Duncan, a Black man, found himself staring at a gun. “We wanted to spend some quality time together,” Duncan said. “All hell broke loose after we turned the corner.” Newton police officers stopped Duncan and his wife while looking for a murder suspect thought to be in the area.

The officers soon realized Duncan was not the man they were looking for, he said. However, Duncan, a former deputy athletic director for external affairs at Northeastern University who spoke out publicly about the experience last summer, said he believes the incident is an example of racial profiling. “None of us should be stopped in that manner—just because I was a tall, Black man,” he said. “I wasn’t policed the way other folks are policed.

Continue reading at NBC Boston.

More Stories

The Center for International Affairs and World Cultures hosts a panel with a pair of scholars on the future of the Middle East peace process. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

After ceasefire deal, how can mediators create a lasting peace in Gaza? Experts unravel the task

02.05.2025
Police responders at the aftermath of Swedish school shooting.

Sweden’s deadliest mass shooting highlights global reality of gun violence, Northeastern criminologist says

02.05.2025
White house

Two different governors make pilgrimage to Trump White House

02.05.25
All Stories