Race Disparity Seen During Traffic Stops. For all the Freeper bigots out there that think minorities are getting a free ride, are “sticking it to whitey” or any of the other BS that implies reverse discrimination against the dominant population, I invite them to switch places for a while, and experience the following kind of day-to-day crap people of color still experience first-hand.
I love the little detail in this story that the Bush admin didn’t want this information publicized, and the person that wanted to do so ended up demoted. John Conyers is calling for an investigation.
I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing DWB (driving while black), but I have encountered SWB (shopping while black — being followed in a store to make sure I didn’t shoplift) and HTWB (hailing a taxi while black — being bypassed).
Black, Hispanic and white motorists are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched, handcuffed, arrested and subjected to force or the threat of it, a Justice Department study has found.
The study, by the department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, was completed last April and posted on the agency’s Web site after Bush administration officials disagreed over whether a press release should mention the racial disparities. Traffic stops have become a politically volatile issue as minority groups have complained that many stops and searches are based on race rather than on legitimate suspicions.
The bureau’s director, Lawrence A. Greenfeld, appointed by President Bush in 2001, wanted to publicize the racial disparities, but his superiors disagreed, a BJS employee said Wednesday. No release was issued. Greenfeld has told his staff that he is being moved to a new job following the dispute, according to this employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to reporters. Greenfeld was not immediately available for comment. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse would not comment on Greenfeld’s status.
“When someone in law enforcement who is willing to speak the truth about racial profiling gets demoted for it, that’s absolutely chilling,” said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau. “To manage any problem, we must first measure it.”
I’m pretty sure the phenomenon of DWB is more often than not black men that are getting stopped and mistreated, especially if they are driving a car in the “wrong place” or the car is perceived as “too expensive” by law enforcement for the darkie behind the wheel to be driving. [That would rule me out anyway, between my late-great, low-end ’88 Mercury Tracer hatch or my current Focus wagon, those aren’t exactly models one would steal.]
Meanwhile, here are some details on the findings.
- Blacks (5.8 percent) and Hispanics (5.2 percent) were much more likely to be arrested than whites (2 percent).
- Hispanics (71.5 percent) were much more likely to be ticketed than blacks (58.4 percent) or whites (56.5 percent).
- Blacks (2.7 percent) and Hispanics (2.4 percent) were far more likely than whites (0.8 percent) to report that police used force or the threat of it. Force was defined as when an officer pushed, grabbed, kicked or hit a driver with a hand or object. Also included were police dog bites, chemical or pepper spray or a firearm pointed at the driver, or the threat of any of these.
- Handcuffs were used on greater percentages of black motorists (6.4 percent) and Hispanics (5.6 percent) than whites (2 percent).
- Black and Hispanic drivers and their vehicles were much more likely to be searched than whites and their vehicles. Black motorists were searched 8.1 percent of the time; Hispanics, 8.3 percent; whites, 2.5 percent. Vehicles driven by blacks were searched 7.1 percent of the time; by Hispanics, 10.1 percent; by whites, 2.9 percent.
The Washington Post reports today that John Conyers has called an investigation into Lawrence Greenfeld’s demotion over the release of the information.
Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said he was preparing a request for an “independent review” by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, which will be asked to examine the personnel issues and the formulation of the study itself.
“It is totally unacceptable for the Justice Department to politicize statistical releases and demote individuals merely because they were seeking to provide accurate summaries of statistical information regarding racial profiling,” Conyers said.
Conyers’s demand came after a report in the New York Times focusing on Lawrence A. Greenfeld, who heads the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a small office staffed primarily with statisticians who conduct studies and issue reports on law enforcement issues.
Quoting unidentified officials and documents, the report said Greenfeld was ordered to delete references to racial disparities in a news release prepared to announce a study on the treatment of different ethnic groups during police traffic stops.
Cross-posted at Pam’s House Blend
I’ve had those thoughts. Thinking Uh-oh when I see young black men walking toward me on a city street.
But then I realize what I’m thinking, because I know how institutionalized and systemic our national racism is, and how I’ve been conditioned to it all my life. Once aware of those thoughts, you can deal with them.
I think one of the big lies of the national discourse is to say, We can’t talk about the differences. As if hush-hushing and denial will make the racism go away.
Nonsense. Anyone can see that there are visible differences. What we need to be discussing is how we are all human under the skin.
About 15 years ago, in New York, I had a very illuminating experience. I’d met a good friend and several of her friends for a drink after work, at one of the chi-chi watering holes on Columbus Avenue. I came from working at home, in old jeans and a casual sweater. They came from their high-powered financial and management jobs, with polished briefcases, well tailored suits, and their Harvard and Stanford MBAs and law degrees.
When we left the place, not one of them could get a cab. Lots of taxis out there, but none would stop. Finally, I stepped to the curb–shabbily dressed but white–put up my hand, and a taxi screeched to a halt. Disgraceful, in a country that talks about equality.
The admins. answer to blatant official racism? Hide the truth, punish those who tell the truth and subtly, or not so subtly, encourage it to continue. Pander to a base of racist, bigoted extremists and then downplay the crimes they commit. Focus on PETA-yeah, they’re a huge threat. This is disgusting. I have more respect for Conyers than I can express.
I live in Oregon City, a smallish town south of Portland. I could tell some funny stories about this pathetic spot on the map, but this isn’t the time or the place. The unfunny story I can tell you is that with the exception of two black families who live a couple of blocks from me, the only time I ever see anyone black in Oregon City is when they are being pulled over on 7th St. — the main drag as you enter the town.
You don’t have to be a genius or a statistician to know that the purpose of this is pure intimidation. None of these poor guys are driving expensive cars. Usually, they’re driving twenty-year-old sedans. The OCPD just doesn’t want any blacks hanging around. Oregon City is a mostly white town with a ghettoized hispanic population, and the town fathers apparently want to keep it that way.
This is the same police department that complains — not, mind you, without some justification — that they are grossly underfunded and can’t do an effective job policing the city without higher taxes. I wouldn’t mind paying higher taxes for more police protection, but first, I’d like to see what they could accomplish if they spent less time enforcing the unwritten DWB laws and more time doing something, anything else.
Thank god for Conyers’s..is he the only Rep. doing any real work? He seems to be one of the very few you happen to read about that believes he actually works for us and tries to get information or an issue like this looked into consistently.
This administration really has taken an aversion to real facts to an unprecedented level or are operating under the premise that the 3 Monkey’s Rule should apply to the public.(we should see,hear nor speak any evil)
A lot of us know from our own empirical experiences how much racism there still is but the public has to have hard facts to back this up to be able to address the issue in a concentrated way. Facts are starting points.
My beloved nephew has one white and one Chinese-American parent and looks like all sorts of nationalities but none of them all-white. He had a job a few years ago in Eugene, Oregon, south of his hometown of Portland. He made good money for a young man in his twenties and bought himself a conservative sort of car that would get good mileage. Any time he was traversing I-5 between the two cities he’d have to budget enough time to take into account getting stopped for driving a nice car while non-white. It happened that frequently. He managed not to get arrested but we were all glad when he moved back home.