KTVU news anchor Frank Somerville used a moment he said was embarrassing to open up dialogue with his viewers.
Somerville, who is based in Oakland, California, usually shares human interest stories on his Facebook page. But this one was personal.
"I have a confession to make," Somerville said in his post Tuesday. "It's embarrassing."
Somerville said that he saw a white woman waiting for a bus one evening when he noticed a black man "dressed kind of 'street' walking on the sidewalk in her direction."
"I was across the street and instantly thought to myself, 'I’m going to watch this guy just to make sure he doesn’t do anything to the woman.'"
Somerville said as the man was walking, a little boy, presumably the man's son, grabbed his father's hand.
"All of a sudden my whole view of the guy changed. I realized he was a dad just walking down the street with his son. I realized that he was 'OK' and wasn’t going to do anything," Somerville wrote. "I was so angry with myself. The man did absolutely nothing wrong and yet I initially saw him as a possible threat. And let’s be honest. The main reason was because of his skin color."
Somerville is a father of two girls: Sydney,16, and Callie, 10.
Callie was adopted by Somerville and his wife, Donna Wright Somerville, and she is African-American.
"The whole way home I was thinking to myself, 'I have a black daughter and yet I still have that (expletive) bias,' Somerville wrote.
"I just had a talk with my daughter about how people might treat her differently from her white sister based solely on her skin color and now here I am doing the exact same thing."
In addition to posting human interest stories, Somerville regularly interacts with commenters on his page. When some read his story and still insisted he may have judged the man on his attire alone, Somerville was honest.
"Maybe it wasn't his skin color, Frank. It was how he was dressed," Ian Connolly wrote in a comment. "If he were wearing a suit, would you have thought that way?"
"I'm sure the dress had something to do with it, but if the guy was white, I can honestly say that my radar wouldn't have gone up like that," Somerville wrote in response.
"What if it were a white guy who was dressed 'street', you don't think you would have also been concerned?" Mary Rydeen asked.
"I thought about that, and the answer is no," Somerville wrote back.
"There is a reality of why you were scared. Own it," Anna Allen said.
"No, actually there was no reason for me to be scared," Somerville said. "It was totally manufactured by my bias."
Somerville said that he put himself out there by telling the story in order to promote discussion.
"Yes, it's embarrassing, but it's also real … how can I expect any of you to put yourselves out there unless I'm willing to do the same. I'm always touched that people from all walks of life feel comfortable enough to share personal stories. That's how we all learn."
Read Somerville's entire Facebook post below.
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