Youth Radio - Topic: racial profiling

CNN's Beer Conversation Turns Into a Brouhaha

pharshaw — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:58:50 -0500

CNN hosted a roundtable discussion last night on the topic of the infamous beer at the White House. The guests at the roundtable were with John Ridley, Willam Bennett, and a good friend of mines, Basheer Jones. Basheer is from Cleveland, Ohio and is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Gerogia. After graduating from Morehouse, he took graduate classes at Howard University where he was my graduate assistant in the Charles R. Drew freshman dormitory. Basheer is someone to take note of, his appearance on CNN last night is the latest notch on a impressive resume. It’s a resume that shows he has the charisma needed to host a talk show for Radio One, his political awareness --he ran for Mayor of Cleveland, and his ability as an orator by way of numerous YouTube videos of him both reciting speeches and reciting poetry. Plus, he killed the freestyle cipher in my video about freshman year. Much respect to Basheer Jones.

And even more respect to CNN for "losing" William Bennett's signal when he was about to launch into a ranting rage.

Previously:

Jedi Mastering Racial Profiling

rpereira — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:48:55 -0500

As someone who has been a target of racial profiling several times, and was even arrested in front of my home and held in jail over the weekend for fitting the description of a burglar, I'm paying close attention to the White House hops invitational.

People joke that I'm King Anyi Howell, the King of getting pulled over, and they suggest that because I drive a Cadillac, I'm more susceptible to racial profiling. But I can say with confidence that Cadillac designers never said to each other, "Yes! With this year's model we focused on a scientifically advanced design that will get people of color pulled over and searched!"

I've been pulled over in an assortment of vehicles, foreign and domestic, often searched and rarely ticketed. Heck, I've been "pulled over" while on a bike and even on foot, belittling the term DWB -- driving while black. No it's more like LWB, and getting a citation for living while black makes me feel like something less than a real citizen. And I certainly don't feel served or protected. For many black people, police scrutiny is a given, and pretty institutionalized. But so is the "F the police attitude" that many people of color hold about the cops - neither side gives. Once you've been unduly sidelined by police, you lose trust in them as both enforcement and protection - the protection you're paying taxes for. If you're a victim of crime, you don't call the police. If someone breaks into my house right now, I say, damn, what do I do now?

And I've been profiled so often that I've developed almost an art form for asserting my rights, while not offending the officer while doing so. I read recently that black men, when pulled over, have to be some odd combination of Samuel L. Jackson and Sydney Poitier, the former being known for his aggression and the latter for his eloquence. It may sound appalling to some, but that's exactly the tightrope I've learned to walk in dealing with the blue line of racial profiling. Creating a customer care persona, cheerfully providing necessary information to police, while showing interest in their work, even though in reality that is a complete role reversal. I'm the customer.

There’s an unspoken understanding between the offending cop and me when I get pulled over. We both know it's not necessarily because a taillight is out, or my music is playing too loudly. And we both know it will likely end up in some sort of search, and as cops often tell me, it's because my sweater and my skin match those of some dude who committed some crime last week.

I don’t act indignant because I'm the Jedi master - employing mind control to get us both out of the situation as quickly as possible. But once I've turned the corner, then I turn my music back up. Because after all, that’s why I bought it. If our forefathers had cassette decks on their horses, they’d probably want to play their music loud, too. That’s life, liberty and happiness all in one action. That's the whole balancing act. I know how to not lose my cool and how to assert my citizenship at once.

No matter the details of what actually happened on Henry Louis Gates' front porch, there's again an opportunity for national acknowledgment of a divisive problem. It might take the form of increased candor about this issue from both police, and the people of color who are wary of them. It might lead to some policy changes, like a racial profiling task force.

No matter what follows from the beer at the White House this afternoon, I don't doubt racial profiling will remain a sobering issue in my life for some time to come.

WEB EXTRA: Youth Radio is curating other inspiring voices on the issue of racial profiling. Here is comedian Dave Chappelle in San Francisco: (download mp3)

Previously on Youth Radio:

The LAPD's "Progress"

ahowell — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:29:57 -0500

I have lived in Los Angeles for less than a year, and already, the amount of encounters I’ve had with law enforcement almost matches the amount accumulated before I moved here.

That’s a lot of stops, while driving AND on foot. While Michael Cherkasky- a monitor appointed by the court to hold the LAPD to their agreement with the Department of Justice to reform their patterns of corruption, brutality and racial bias- feels the LAPD has made vast improvements my experiences convince me otherwise. In the last two months I’ve been pulled over 8 times for things like a tail light, loud music, and “just looking suspicious” as one officer told me. That stop, as well as one other out of the 8, have resulted in searches. None of these stops resulted in tickets or citations.

I was put in the back of a squad car while being searched on a traffic stop for looking like a robbery suspect that JUST came over the radio. While in the back a call came in that we were fighting with the officers, of course an error, and ANOTHER squad car came over to investigate. Meaning I was pulled over WHILE being pulled over!

I was even arrested and thrown in jail in front of my home one Friday evening because police mistook me for a burglar that another officer was chasing. The officers that handled me weren’t interested in investigating the fact that I was in my home the entire time they were looking for the actual perpetrator. Instead of searching my actual car and home, they rushed me around the corner to celebrate with 15 or more other officers in the most disgusting “We Got ‘Em” fashion. Meanwhile I sat in the backseat and my neighbors, who I’ve never seen before that night, told the blissfully ignorant officers that they were arresting the wrong individual.

I suppose I should be grateful that I didn’t suffer the fate of Rodney King, who was beaten by police. I just had my freedom suspended for a weekend until actual detectives noticed the mistakes of their colleagues in the field. While I am sure some progress has been made with regards to the LAPD’s conduct and racial biases, it certainly isn’t enough for them to begin shifting more authority from federal oversight to their own internal monitors, as Cherkasky recommends.

Even though I’ve learned to deal with getting pulled over for no apparent reason by blowing sunshine all up inside law enforcement and sharing my experiences in commentaries at times I get literally sick in the stomach. It’s obvious to me that any “progress” the LAPD has made can be attributed to the appointment of this court mandated monitor, without which no one would hold them to their word to improve their brand of justice. They certainly aren’t in the habit of holding themselves to it.