‘Black Panther’ Director Ryan Coogler Was Treated Like A Bank Robber During Simple Transaction

It’s not easy being a black man in America, even in 2022. Don’t let those people who say, “But we had a black president!” fool you. Some things have changed, but unfortunately so many things have remained the same.

‘Black Panther‘ director Ryan Coogler was accused of staging a robbery at a Bank of America in Atlanta back in January. He walked inside the bank wearing a mask (for Covid) and a hoodie. He handed the teller a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back.

The note read:

I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account. Please do the money count somewhere else. I’d like to be discreet.

It’s not an unreasonable request considering he was about to be handed $12,000 in cash. He was trying to protect himself. You don’t want the whole world knowing you’re carrying around $12,000 in cash. That’s a recipe for disaster.

According to the report, when the teller went to make the transaction on her computer, it triggered some sort of alert. We’re sure it was some standard, “This is a lot of money, are we sure?” alert. But because Ryan is a black man, the teller thought the worst and told her boss that Coogler was attempting to rob the bank.

The police were called. When they arrived on scene, they detained two people waiting outside for Coogler in an SUV. They then went inside and put Coogler in handcuffs as well.

After an investigation, the police say this was all just a huge mistake … and the fault lies with the BoA employee, who’s described in the report as a pregnant Black woman.

And that’s the thing. People might think, “Well this can’t be a case of discrimination because the teller was black!” but I think that just shows how successful some people have been in the past with tarnishing the image of a black man. It’s so ingrained in our society that it might not ever fully go away.

There’s no doubt in my mind that if Coogler was a white dude wearing casual clothes, the teller would have talked this situation out with him before assuming he was trying to rob the bank.

Now you could ask the question, if Coogler was dressed up in some swanky suit, would the situation have been different? I don’t know. Maybe. But also maybe not.

In any event, the situation was resolved without incident and Coogler told TMZ that Bank of America worked with him and addressed the situation to his satisfaction, “we have moved on,” he stated.