Whoops, Cops Picked The Wrong Black Guy To Harass

boots,

When I think something is funny, I'll add a smiley face for you, OK, kid?

 

Racial profiling? Gag me.

During another time in my career I routinely went into heavily populated minority neighborhoods in which the relationships between the residents and cops was often strained.

But the one thing the residents, the black residents, wanted was to see the drug-dealing, gun-wiedling types off their street corners. More often than not, the color of those individuals was black.

The decent people, blacks, couldn't walk to the grocery story or drug store without getting, at best, hassled, and at worst robbed and beaten.

I got to watch the older black folks walk down the street. Got to watch them cross to the other side of the street when they would see a group of younger blacks, individuals they suspected were selling drugs or prearing or worse.

It's not always racial profiling. Those older blacks had too many negative experiences with the younger kids from the area, were scared shitless and did all they could to avoid them and hoped they'd either leave or be removed from the area.

Why?

 

Those roughhouse tactics are also used in poor white neighborhoods too. It's a simple case of police exerting their authority to an inhumane level, in my opinion.

 

This seems to presume that black people aren't capable of racial profiling, either.

Whether you think this sort of thing is right or wrong, it's hard to argue with the fact that those tactics are ineffective. What if that reporter was a dealer, and they cops took him in? The law may have taken a dope dealer off the street, but he didn't displace the dope. The problem is dope, not dope dealers.

And while I know as well as you do why the kids screamed Five-Oh, on the corner, I do appreciate anytime someone tells me when the police are nearby. That's why I use a radar detector on road trips.

 

Wow, lots of discussion and I didn't even get to post the best part because of a computer glitch (I think NY Times is doing something to prevent people from copy and pasting their stories - if that's possible.)

Anyway my favorite part of the story is the ending, where the writer argues with police that this is America and he should be allowed to stand anywhere he wants.

“Sir, this is the South. We have different laws down here.”

That is fucking classic.

And Boots, I know this stuff happens all the time. That's the point of this well-written story: Civil rights vs. safety and where do you draw the line?.

I've had it to me while interviewing folks in black neighborhoods, albeit without the handcuffs. The cops always want to know what a white boy like me is doing in a black neighborhood - they usually go on their merry way when I 'flash' my newspaper badge.

Also loved the end of the story where the gangbangers still didn't believe the author is a reporter. The entire story is a must-read.

 

I will say I don't think the reporter was pulled over because he was black. I think he was pulled over because he looked respectable in an area where drugs are sold.

Story doesn't say anything about the police clicking/cuffing the gangbangers who stood and watched - the cops know who they are. They wanted to know if the older black dude had some drugs and cash on him.

 

If you look suspicious, you'll probably get questioned. The cuffs were for the cops' safety while they patted him down. It's standard procedure. A lot of people disagree with being cuffed without being charged, but that's something to be taken up with police academies across the country who teach that.

I've been pulled over before for "being in the wrong neighborhood" and it sucked. I was called a crackhead by a cop in Dallas because I had accidentally wandered into a neighborhood known for high drug trafficking (oddly enough the GPS unit in my rental car didn't have an "avoid all bad neighborhoods" option). I was put into handcuffs (for my own protection, the cop said) as they searched my rental car. When the cop found out I was a member of the media covering the Cotton Bowl, he seemed to relax a little.

I'm one of those people who gets aggrevated as hell watching Cops when an officer crosses the line re: his authority, but at the same time, I have two uncles in law enforcement, my next door neighbor growing up was a police officer/Chief of Police and one of my best friends from high school is a cop now. I've had discussions with them about cops abusing authority and they agree there are bad officers in every unit. They also say that if the average Joe went on patrol with a cop for a week, they'd understand a little more what the cops go through.

I try to respect cops as much as I can, but I know there are a lot of them that abuse their power.

 

if i spent a week with a cop i would not understand why some of them choose to violate folks' civil rights.

in fact, i was standing at the end of my driveway about a half hour ago -- midnight my time -- talking with my neighbor. if a cop would have stopped, got out of his car and cuffed me while slamming my grill into the hood of his car, the police department here probably would have been receiving a call from an attorney come sunrise.

 

Police do that stuff to the poor because the know they won't call a lawyer. Rodney King was fortunate that SOMEONE videotaped his ass kicking by the LAPD.
That line by the cop saying "This is the South" was bullshit. I've heard that line several times. You also hear it if you're from the south and get pulled over in the northeast, etc., etc.
In short, there were too many holes in the story that should've been filled before the story ran. For starters, if the reporter was any good, he would've gotten names and badge numbers to go with the story. I understand the circumstances but it would appear he didn't get anyone's identification. He gets demerits for that.
Also, he didn't bother getting comment from community leaders about the police strongarm tactics. I'm sure the mayor's office would've at least had a response, especially if it was the NY Times calling.
Finally, why did he fail to get comments from either the guys on the corner or other people who live in the area about the police and their tactics?
Too many holes. It was a knee-jerk reaction story that could've been done better had it not been rushed.

 

nice post, boots. keep rollin', dog.

 

Wow, it's obvious from your last few questions that you didn't even read the entire story, yet that didn't stop you from rambling on and on about something you know nothing about. Wow.

 

Oh really? Well perhaps you need to re-read the article and tell me where I'm wrong.