Black males' fear of racial profiling very real, regardless of class

[lindisfarne]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-racial-profiling25-2009jul25,0,7041188.story
...
They know too well the pivotal moment Gates faced at his Massachusetts home. It was that moment of suspicion when confronted by police, the moment one wonders, in a flash of panic, anger or confusion: Maybe I am being treated this way because I'm black.

Next comes the pivotal question: Do I protest or just take it?

Kwame Dunston says he has made the calculated choice to take it -- repeatedly. The public school administrator says he has been pulled over more than 20 times in the last decade, but has rarely been issued a ticket. What factor other than race, he wondered, would account for all of those stops?

"It's more important for me to make it home than to fight for a cause I'm not going to win," he said.

Dunston, 36, a New York resident who was in Atlanta this week, pointed to the interior of his 2006 Toyota Camry. It was showroom-clean. He doesn't want police to think he has something to hide.

"My job," Dunston said, "is to make sure they don't have any question about what's inside the car."

Such anxiety, deeply rooted in the African American experience, has endured into the era of the first black president.

For many black men, the feeling of remaining inherently suspect never goes away, no matter their wealth and status and the efforts by police forces to avoid abuses in profiling.

Lawrence Otis Graham, author of a book on affluent African Americans, said wealthy blacks may, in fact, be subjected to more racial profiling than others.

In upscale white neighborhoods, they sometimes stand out. In fancy restaurants, they're sometimes mistaken for help. "We become almost numbed by the constant presumptions," said Graham.
...

[imdjh]

1. Some of it is race and some of it isn't.

The problem of perception is that a person can really only have his own experience.

I was pulled over 23 times during about a 2 year stretch, without getting a ticket. Why? Because I had a kit car that looked like an Italian sports car but which was registered (with a little help from a friend at the inspection station) as a Volkwagon Beetle. The car would catch the eye of the cops, but the tag wouldn't match the visual. Once they had all pulled me over, it stopped.

If you are driving a 1979 Cadillac with candy apple red metal flake paint, back spinning chrome rims, and thumping stereo you're going to get pulled over.
Obviously, this doesn't explain why Dunston was repeatedly pulled over in his 2006 Toyota (which we can safely assume was not a show car) , but it would help explain the perception that this happens all the time to black people. By the same token, when I was in high school, the greasers were always getting pulled over in their jacked up Novas, GTO's, and Impalas. My friends and I hardly ever got pulled over, because we were driving inconspicuous cars, but also because we tried really hard to not get pulled over because we didn't want to be searched (understand?).

If you are five teenagers packed into a car driving around and around looking for something to do or some place to hang out, you are going to get pulled over. If you are black, you probably think it's because you are black, and since that might also be a reason why you have been pulled over then the perception is validated even if it isn't always true. My friends and I got "field interrogation" with some frequency when I was a teenager, we were all white. We didn't see it as a function of race, it was a function of kids using drugs and hanging out in parks and corn fields. Our house parties got visits from cops. Our field parties got broken up by cops. But a black guy wouldn't know this, because he wasn't there.

When I was 18 I wanted to get vanity plates on my car. My dad told me not to do that because vanity plates are easier to remember and if someone was reporting a crime, they might remember the most easily remembered plate instead of the car that was actually involved.

When I first moved to this town, the cops paid a lot of attention to me because I drove an old cargo van. Cargo vans are apparently suspicious vehicles. They would follow me closely, which would drive me nuts even though I wasn't doing anything wrong. I felt certain they were just following me in wait for me to do something wrong, which everyone does with all these laws. Did I not signal exactly 300 feet before my turn? Do I have a light out?

I go to a friend's store just about every other day. It's next to a cheap motel where prostitutes and drug dealers work. The hookers eye me like I'm business. The cops eye me like I'm business. If I were to circle that block three times, or pull over to chat with one of the people "hanging out" there is a really good chance that the police would be on me. Rightly or wrongly, most people (IMO) try to avoid looking suspicious to police. If one wants to think that race is the whole of it, then that's his choice. But to show no regard for appearances is either activism or foolishness or both. Part of being respectable is acting like a respectable person.

As an aside. I am always dismayed by the scenes in reality shows where police order someone to lay on the ground. Despite all the street level crime and tension in this county, I have never actually seen anyone on the ground like this. I also haven't seen cops put people on the hood like they do on TV. Is this a regional thing?

[izquierdista]

2. Cargo van?

Let me guess, when they saw you didn't have a silver tooth like Joe Pesci, they figured you weren't the "wet bandits", right?

[imdjh]

3. No clue about that movie.

The van was a hand me down from my parents. I thought the "Happiness is being a Grandparent." and "St. Paul's Academy" bumper stickers would be my free pass but it wasn't. I've also been told that having AA bumper stickers on your car doesn't convince cops that you aren't a drunk when they see you driving home at exactly 2:05 AM.

[Chisox08]

6. That doesn't explain why I've gotten stopped while driving my parents car

It's a 2009 Cadillac DTS. Last night on my was home from work I was stopped by two differnt suburban cops then a Chicago cop. The Chicago cop by far was the rudest. I also noticed he tailed me until I got home.

[imdjh]

7. That's probably a record.

[Chisox08]

13. three suburbs with with cops waiting to pass out tickets for just about anything

It's a norm when those suburbs need a few extra dollars in the coffers

[PSzymeczek]

14. End of the month

and they don't have their quota.

[stuball111]

4. VW Profiling

There is profiling of all kinds which is true. And I believe more so in the case of African Americans. I drive 2 VW buses with Grateful Dead stickers on them and rarely get pulled over because I am white, and the buses are pristine, Although I have been followed a few times rather obviously by a few cruisers. But crossing the border into Canada was definitely a different story, both in and out. ( I am Canadian American) When I drove my truck up with only American and Canadian flag stickers and my Union Yes logo, I showed my documents and was waved through, no problems. But driving my Hippie buses, I got detained and searched both ways, going up for guns and ammo, and coming back for Cuban Cigars, and in both cases, for drugs. I had no reason to worry, I was clean and complied, but the scowls on both customs sides told me to keep my mouth in check or else! I am 54 years old and clean as a whistle, with a US Green Card. Now I know that this is no where near what African Americans deal with, but it shows you that profiling is a fact despite all claims to the contrary.

[imdjh]

5. I've always thought that people with GD stickers were asking for it.

It might not be right, but it's a giant flashing neon pot sign.

And the people who actually do have pot stickers on their cars? What are they thinking? Is there a reverse psychology or legal theory in place that if you have a pot sticker on your car, and you get pulled over and busted, that you can maintain that it was an illegal search based on your free speech rather than probable cause?

What if you had a bumper sticker that actually said, "There is marijuana in this car."? I wonder what lawyers would do with that.

[stuball111]

9. Pot? Why Pot?

Yes, that may be a "stigma" of GD, but I happen to belong to the Wharf Rats, a clean and sober group of Deadheads. I also have a "Wharf Rat" sticker on my bumper. Why don't they notice that? The point is, it's profiling. Hell, any form of music can be associated with drugs or booze. If I had a Michael Jackson sticker on there, would I be profiled as a prescription drug abuser? (which is still not fact) Cops should stick to busting people when they see them break a law, not make some shit up in their head, and try to justify it later. Of course there are people who blatantly flaunt it by putting stupid shit on their vehicles, When I was younger, I had a van and painted "WEEDABAGO" on the back. After few stops, my buddy got tired of it, and painted over it. No more stops! But the GD? C'mon now... not everybody that listens to them is a druggie, as a matter of fact, I'd say that there's only about 20-30% of so called Deadheads are hard core druggies and abusers. At least these days. Most are older, family types.

[imdjh]

10. That's cause they're all in rehab.

Just kidding, but come on, the Deadheads are in a league of their own as far as fans go. There might be some die hards who followed Michael Jackson from city to city, taking over campgrounds and cultivating a public image of eternal hippiedom , but they didn't earn the folklore and prestige of the deadheads.

[stuball111]

16. That's because of the Ken Kesey Thing

Which happened waaayyy back in the 60's. And LSD was legal then!, Or at least not illegal. So why are people still being targeted, and why can't people listen to music and be free from profiling? There's a big difference between listening to sound, and doing illegal drugs. But cops are too damn stupid to separate them, just like they are too stupid to see that not all black men are criminals, or hippies, or latinos, or headbangers or punk rockers. Their job is to prevent crime when it happens, not imagine it, and then come up with an excuse to justify their behavior afterwords. Like the guy that the RCMP tasered and killed in Vancouver BC last year. the guy got off a plane from Czekoslovakia, didn't speak a word of english, his mother wasn't there to meet him because she got lost, and the guy was confused and a bit pissed, so six fuckin cops jump on him and taser the shit outta him 6 times and killed him, Then they made up all kinds of stories to justify their murder. Well in court, they got caught lying through their teeth, but nothing will happen. I go to festivals these days, and kids are smoking pot while watching Ralph Stanley! . So they don't need the GD for an excuse people smoke pot because they are wired to it, not because of the music. I will admit though, The GD did create lots of business for the rehab clinics!:rofl:

[Tim01]

8. Cops harass me all the time. (pic)

They always pick on me and my friends for no reason.


I'm kidding, of course. But I'm sure you get my point.

Black guys have to work harder than white guys at not drawing attention of cops,that's America. Racism is real. But it is not the whole ball game either.

[imdjh]

11. Many a truth said in jest.

If you go around looking like that, you are probably going to get pulled over. Is it right? Of course not, but to paraphrase Professor Kingsfield, "It is what it is."

[Fire1]

12. Blacks in general have to work harder at everything in

America. :shrug:

[Slyder]

15. Harassment is real!

I am a white guy who lives in the way-too-white affluent Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri. The county is about 3% black due today mainly to a history of white flight and de facto segregation. My black friends get stopped all the time by local cops, particularly the men. Rarely are they ticketed. I have been stopped about five times in 20 years for real infractions and have received three tickets. My friends are a bit paranoid about even coming over here. I have talked about this to my city councilperson and other city officials. But it continues. Anymore I just meet my black friends east of the state line or pick them up. I'd rather shop, eat out, and find entertainment in KC, MO. The suburbs are just miles and miles of national chain eateries and retail. The truly great bargains at restaurants and shopping are in Kansas City, MO. Also, where I work in Kansas black employees living in Missouri and working late often get stopped heading home. We have had to change shifts for staff because of this harassment. I'd be anxious too if I were black! It is way past time for this kind of crap to stop!

What is hilariously ironic about this is that city budgets in the 'burbs are heavily dependent on sales taxes. Making a sizable segment of potential shoppers paranoid to come over here is just plain stupid! But truth be told, many insulated whites in the suburbs are frightened of Missouri blacks "taking over" malls and parks and entertainment venues, whatever the hell that means! Some of my neighbors are horrified that I spend a lot of free time in "high crime" Kansas City, Missouri. Local TV news makes it sounds like there is a murder on every street corner every hight over there! A couple of years ago a white woman was kidnapped in an upscale Kansas shopping mall parking lot by a white man and murdered. People of all races want to feel safe in their daily lives and have freedom of movement. But no public place is "safe". And never has been. "Street-smarts" are needed wherever one goes! We have a ways to go in this country before we are race neutral!

[LeftishBrit]

17. A problem in the UK too.