Black professor who accused Dunkin' of racial profiling speaks out: It was a 'dangerous' and 'bad' situation

A man who was kicked out of a Dunkin’ (formerly Dunkin’ Donuts) last week and alleged that the incident was racially motivated is speaking out.

Timothy E. Nelson, a historian and professor who teaches Africana Studies at the University of New Mexico, had dropped his car off to be serviced at a Santa Fe, N.M., Firestone, then stepped into a nearby Dunkin’ to buy a coffee and a doughnut. After stepping out briefly to check on his car and learn that it would be awhile, he returned to the coffee shop to use its Wi-Fi while he waited. It wasn’t long before he says he was confronted by the franchise owner and asked to leave. When Nelson asked why he was being thrown out, he was told there was a one-hour rule for patrons.

“Where was this posted?” Nelson asked in a phone interview with Yahoo Lifestyle. “She was rude when she came up to me. I didn’t know Dunkin’ Donuts had an hourlong rule. When I wanted to know more, she wasn’t very clear about the rule.” Without showing proof of the policy, the owner of the Santa Fe Dunkin’, Irene Deubel, continued to insist that he leave. So Nelson, who is also a racial justice director at the YWCA, pulled out his cellphone to record the confrontation.

In a video posted to Facebook, Deubel can be heard repeating, “You’re done,” and “Timothy, goodbye.” Nelson asks, “So what you’re saying is I only get an hour to sit here?” and “Did you call the police?” It turns out Deubel had indeed called the authorities.

He recorded his conversation with the officers too and posted it to Facebook. In it, he describes the scenario, and the police tell him, “It’s a place of business. They make their rules.” “I bought a coffee, though!” Nelson says. The officer responds, “I completely understand where you’re coming from, but it’s a place of business. It’s a private property. If they don’t want you in there, they can kick you out, man.”

Nelson says it was a “dangerous” and “bad” situation because with police, “I have to be extra courteous.” Although his exchange with police was cordial and didn’t end in violence or an arrest, Nelson sees the situation as an opportunity to teach his students — and his daughter — “how race works.”

“As a diversity instructor, intersectionality trainer, and as a professor that teaches about race and how it functions in society, all of that stuff comes down to this moment. I started [instructing] at the largest YWCA to teach people about this. We can now get this conversation started,” he says.

The conversation, says Nelson, is summed up in his YWCA course on “eliminating racism based on the principle of delegitimizing all notions of race,” a concept for which the hashtag #racedoesntexist was created. “Race doesn’t exist and we need to start talking about it from that perspective,” he says. “Let’s make sure [racial profiling is] no longer a valid thing to be doing.”

Nelson, who just started teaching his online course at the University of New Mexico on the day of the Dunkin’ confrontation, says he hasn’t yet gotten around to using his videos of the incident in his lessons, but he will. He tells Yahoo Lifestyle that he wants to make sure to incorporate them within the context of his curriculum and separate from what’s going on with him personally. His ultimate goal is to prevent racially motivated events from happening to a new generation. “The only alternative for us is to educate,” he says.

A representative for Dunkin’ previously released the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle regarding the incident:

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Cops called on black staff member at UMass Amherst for walking to work

• ‘All black people look the same’: ‘The Hill’ faces criticism for mistaking Condoleezza Rice for Susan Rice

• Teacher helps students make ‘skin color’ paints beyond brown and tan

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