Outraged
27 July, 2009
By Lou
Racial profiling and the arrest of Henry Gates, Jr
Photo by foxumon
Back in the day when I was a Public Defender, I found myself witnessing a traffic stop outside the grocery store I was about to enter. The driver of the car was pulled over, and after he had shown license and registration he was told, "You fit the description. We need to search your car."
So the young Latino man opened the trunk and watched as the police searched his car.
Eventually, he was told he could leave, and no ticket was issued to him. I went inside the Safeway and purchased my groceries.
As I was leaving, I observed a second traffic stop in the same location by the same police.
This time, it was a young Black man who was told, "You fit the description. We need to search your car"
I watched while the car was searched, and then the driver was told he was free to leave.
I was thinking of leaving the scene, but I decided to wait around for a minute to see what the policemen did. As it turned out, they went around the block and returned to a location from which they could observe traffic nearing the grocery store. There was a bus stop on the corner, and I sat down on the bench and watched.
Shortly, the police put on their flashing lights and siren and pulled over another car which stopped directly in front of me.
The young Anglo driver was told, "You fit the description. We need to search your car."
Once again, the search turned up nothing, and the driver was permitted to leave. Those of you who are unfamiliar with lawful searches might take my word that the searches of those 3 cars were unlawful.
Cognizant of my role as a Public Defender, and recognizing that my office might be called upon to represent any person stopped and charged by these officers, I approached them and asked them for their names and badge numbers. They declined to provide that information, although I was able to read it from one of their badges and uniforms, and they instructed me to leave the area or be arrested for interfering with a police officer. I made a note of their car number, and I left.
The next day, I called the Denver Police Department to file a complaint about these unlawful stops. After finally getting through to the proper command officer, I was told to mind my own business. Since no victim was complaining, they weren't interested in anything I might tell them.
So it was with the Denver Police Department in the early 1970s.
I had many clients report incidents of police abuse and racial harrassment, and there were certain elements of these allegations that were repeated over and over. For example, the names of certain officers came up repeatedly in association with certain types of allegations.
In addition, I still recall the time I interviewed a client and informed him that he had been charged with possession of 1.2 kilos of marijuana. His reply was a shocked response that he had possessed at least 6 kilos -- where were the other 5 kilos he was NOT charged with? It would seem that the arresting narcotics officer had pocketed the difference.
These kinds of things can happen anywhere. However, some years later I was able to convince the Denver Bar Association, the Colorado Civil Liberties Union, and the Community Coalition -- all separately -- to investigate the Denver Police Department. The US Department of Justice joined with the Community Coalition and also assisted the Colorado CLU.
We found numerous allegations of police brutality and police racism, and all 3 studies concluded that Denver's minority communities did not trust the Denver Police and were unlikely to cooperate with them. We were able to identify shortcomings in police training and police procedures, and we addressed these issues with the Mayor, City Council, and police leadership.
While some steps were taken to improve police - community relations, at no point did the Denver Police Department instruct or order its officers to treat all racial and ethnic groups fairly, or civilly, or respectfully. To this day there is no requirement that Denver Police refrain from using ethnic or racial slurs in dealing with the public.
Denver is not Cambridge, Massachusetts. However, perhaps their police forces have more in common than one might have predicted.
What happened to Henry Gates Jr. in Cambridge probably could have happened to any member of a racial minority in any community.
It was not, as one of my friends claimed, a tempest in a teapot.
You may be unfamiliar with the case, because amazingly it has not been the huge story it might be. However, it began with Prof. Gates (who happens to be a famous Harvard scholar) returning home from a trip to China, with his luggage and the cane he depends upon, and having difficulty opening the front door of his home at roughly 12:30 in the afternoon. A neighbor called the police to report suspicious activity, and police responded.
Prof. Gates was able to convince Officer James Crowley that he (Gates) was not a burglar and indeed was in his own home. Crowley acknowledges that fact. However, apparently the professor was irate that the police had entered his home without a warrant and without lawful cause, and he objected to his treatment rather voiciferously. Rather than apologize and leave, Crowley continued to confront Gates within his home, called for back-up to protect him from this elderly academician, and carried on the heated discussion until he invited Gates outside and arrested him for "disorderly conduct."
Note that Gates was NOT arrested for burglary or for any other crime that would have given Crowley some legal justification for remaining on the scene. Instead, he was arrested for objecting to his treatment after Crowley had been satisfied that his arrival there was needless to begin with.
One of the fine legal minds at Harvard was able to win the professor's release from custody, and subsequently the charges have been dropped and an apology issued.
Yet, the fact remains that police are free to harrass members of the minority communities they serve, and those individuals who are not so fortunate as Prof. Gates pay a much heavier price for being minorities. They do not have lawyers ready on a moment's notice to gain their freedom; nor are they as likely to have such charges dropped. Apologies for most are out of the question.
Should we be outraged at this incident? I believe so.
Imagine, if you will, how you would feel if police barged into your home (unlawfully) and began accusing you of breaking into your own home. Chances are you would not take kindly to such an incident, and you might even question the officer's lineage or do something equally insulting. Imagine then your absolute outrage were you to convice the police that you had done nothing wrong only to be arrested anyway.
If that doesn't convince you that this incident is no tempest in a teapot, imagine further that you are a member of a minority group with a history of victimization at the hands of police. Imagine that you are in the shoes of Prof. Henry Louis Gates. In my humble opinion, he has reason to be outraged.
We all have reason to be outraged.
© 2009 Lou
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