A Philadelphia police officer was placed on desk duty in early November 2018 while the department looked into a Facebook photo that appeared to show him in blackface and an Afro wig.
According to NBC10, Officer Hung Nguyen, a 22 year veteran of the force, shared the image on his Facebook page, and it quickly drew outrage online. Police confirmed the man in the photo is Nguyen, but said they are still working to learn how the image was made and who created it.
Philadelphia Police Captain Sekou Kinebrew said, “We don’t know the nexus of the photo.” He added that it could be a computer graphic or something physically applied, and that investigators are trying to find out which.
NBC10 reported that Nguyen told its reporter he was hurt and upset. When asked whether he put on the blackface himself, he said the matter was still under investigation and ended the call.
Rochelle Bilal, who leads the Guardian Civic League, a group of active and retired minority officers who work to build ties between police and neighborhoods, told NBC10 she was disgusted by the image. She said that if Nguyen is the one who created it, he should not be a police officer, while noting she could not say for certain whether the image is authentic.
The investigation was ongoing at the time of this report, and no findings had been announced.
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