Is this racial profiling?

[Enjolras]

There is a small community, just a few miles from my northern Ohio home, of tree lined streets, beautiful mansions with huge, manicured lawns, and luxury sedans or SUV's in most driveways. The crime rate has always been very low, and the school system consistently ranks among the finest in the state. The per capita income is one of the highest in the state. It is home to many local lawyers, doctors, professors, and architects. A prototypical suburban utopia, it's the kind of place we'd all want to live, but very few of us will ever be able to afford. Not surprisingly, it is also totally, or almost totally, white.

About 5 years ago, during a construction project at this community's elementary school, a young, black worker -- an apprentice mason, I believe -- stood at the edge of a street near the site. It was mid-day, and he was on a lunch break. A local police officer drove up to the man and asked the man what he was doing. He replied that he was waiting on his brother (or maybe friend?) to come and give him a ride. The officer asked when he was expecting his ride to arrive, and the man angrily said "He's not coming!!" and walked briskly away from the officer. The cop pursued and the man evaded, ignoring instructions to stop, leading to his arrest for evading, or disorderly conduct, or something like that (Hey, give me a break. It's been 5 years!)

Local media and civil rights leaders were quick to smell racial profiling. The young apprentice mason said that he thought he had only been approached because of the color of his skin. A lawsuit ensued, and I don't know the outcome. I suspect it was settled out of court.

I have always felt this was a mistake, and a lost opportunity. Now before you fire up the flamethrowers, let me explain.

I am far from the first to deduce that the right has been using the issue of race to divide the working class. I think that's why many poor whites, especially, but not exclusively, in the now solidly Republican south, keep voting against their own economic interests. And I think that this young black construction worker was approached by local police that day because he did indeed look out of place, but not because he was black. Remember the kind of community it is. White people look out of place if not dressed in pressed, pleated
slacks, button-down Ralph Lauren shirts, and polished loafers. A construction worker, of whatever race, on his lunch break has presumably spent all morning working at the site. He would be dirty, sweaty, his work boots covered in cement dust. And construction workers, for obvious reasons, start out the day dressed rather shabbily.

I think this was an opportunity to shed light on the oft-ignored issue of class profiling. Those people aren't racists, they're elitist snobs! That's an issue that working class non-minorities could relate to much more easily. Am I wrong about this?

[Cleita]

1. It happens regularly in those types of neighborhoods.

If the cops don't know who you are and you aren't white, they will harrass you until someone vouches for you. There was an amusing case of a jewel thief in LA some years ago. He was white, dressed in a tux and strolled all the rich neighborhoods like Bevery Hills, Bel Air, etc. He would scope out houses, rob them, sometimes while the residents were at home and then casually stroll away with his pockets stuffed and no one ever questioned him, until a victim caught him in his house.

[Hippo_Tron]

2. I've seen way too many cases of it recently...

I walked out of a Best-Buy and the guy didn't even ask to see my receipt right. A black man is walking out at the same time and was stopped by the guy at the door. I was at the movies and I just walk by the guys working their without being asked to show my ticket. Black man right behind me is asked to show his ticket. But your story involving the police that's even worse. This shit is really sad.

[Enjolras]

3. How were those black people dressed?

And how did they talk and act? It's not just a right-wing smoke screen when they say you have to look beyond the race. There are other factors. There really are certain white people -- biker gangs come to mind -- who just look intimidating and/or suspicious.

I just think the knee-jerk rush to race-baiting judgment is counter-productive to out cause.

[themanintheback]

4. Yes, it was racist

Most of these types of stories are. Repukes ARE racist, so if a mistake is made in a few instances, so be it. You can't make an omelette (or a progressive Supreme Court) without breaking a few eggs.

I bet a white construction worker wouldn't have been hassled.

[Enjolras]

5. That's where we disagree

I think a white construction worker would have been questioned.

I say again, I think this issue serves the right's interests more than ours. I think people like Jackson and Sharpton serve their agenda in the same way that Falwell and Fred Phelps serve ours.

[blondeatlast]

14. Puhleeze . . .What planet is your neck of Ohio on,

anyway?

Sheesh.

Edit: cleaned up subject line. Did that come out of ME?

[blondeatlast]

12. My hubby is an Asian Indian professional, always well-dressed

and with virtually no accent whatsoever. He does, however, resemble a MErner or even Latino (we live in the SW).

Yes, the cops have harrassed him for no reason. Once a security guard in a mall called the cops becuase my son (who has lighter skin and hair) was crying after he fell and hit his head. Guess what the cops thought? If I hadn't arrived, we would have had a trauma of the first order.

There was absolutely no excuse for that cop to harrass the man. Think of it this way, cops don't harrass biker-types without a damn good reason, and without backup.

Since when is standing on a curb suspicious? I thought it was a civil right.

I know racism when I see it, and I can tell the difference between any type of profiling and racism. What you describe is racism, pure and simple.

[blondeatlast]

13. Exactly whose cause are you taling about?

[Fleshdancer]

6. Only the police officer knows for sure

My instincts tell me it was racism over classism.

Perhaps this man did look poor, but he looked black before the officer ever took notice of his clothes.

[themanintheback]

7. Anyone who thinks...

that the cop didn't notice his race first, second and third before considering ANYTHING else just hasn't felt the boot on his neck yet.

Live in a minority neighborhood and deal with the cops daily, THEN tell me that the pigs aren't Repuke stormtroopers.

[oostevo]

8. This is perhaps a bit non-sequitur,

But I thought it might be an interesting aside.

I have many friends who live in such neighborhoods, and they usually do not choose to obey the unwritten 'dress code' of the locality. They are constantly harassed by police (who seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time patrolling there). Again, these are white, very wealthy teens who actually live in those neighborhoods.

[Enjolras]

9. Exactly!!

You see? Race is NOT the only thing they look at.

[Karenina]

10. However it IS

the FIRST thing they register.

[blondeatlast]

15. There are MANY types of profiling.

What you described in the OP was racism, not profiling.

[whatelseisnew]

20. White Construction Workers look like Construction Workers

Non White Workers look 'suspicious'

Teenagers dressing down look 'suspicious' due to the drug war hype

[Speed8098]

11. I'm white and have been pulled over in predominately black neighborhoods

What do you call that??

I was asked what I'm doing there. In reality I was dropping a co-worker off after work, but the cops accused me of being there to buy drugs. I let them search my car and when they found nothing, they grunted and told me not to be hanging around there.

Hanging around?? I was driving down the street minding my own business.

Yes, it was racial profiling.

[Solomon]

16. Ohhh You poor baby.

Wow. Life is sooo tough isn't it? You call it racial profiling I guess because you have concluded that the cops don't stop blacks in a black neighborhood. Heee Heee. That's rich.

[blondeatlast]

17. Hah! Wish I'd said that!

[Solomon]

19. Hi Blondie!

:hi:

[leftyandproud]

22. wow, look at the hypocrisy

reverse the skin color of everyone in his story and think about it..
is there really a difference? profiling is profiling...harassment is harassment. Why make a distinction if he happens to be non-black?

[Speed8098]

24. Why the snide comments???

You know nothing about me, yet you choose to denigrate me because of a related story? Why????

I never concluded anything, I never said cops don't stop blacks in black neighborhoods. How did you read that into my story? All I did was state what happened to me.

And if you think racial profiling doesn't happen, then you need to open your eyes.

[whatelseisnew]

18. The whole neighborhood you were in was profiled as a drug neighborhood

[leftyandproud]

21. this is probably NOT racial profiling

I've been trying to lose about 20 pounds so I've been going for nightly walks during my lunch break (I work third shift) Now I'm just a white guy with glasses...I usually walk wearing a big black coat and a toboggan on my head..

It just so happens that I work about a half mile away from a nice neighborhood..They even have a nice little pond type area with a water fountain that I like to circle on the route...So far I have been stopped TWICE by the cops in the past week...They shined their light on me and pulled up both times...once they told me to pull my hands out of my pockets as if I had a gun)...I understand this, it's for their safety and I had no reason to fight them, so I did what they told me.. They asked me if I was stranded, what I was doing, why I was walking at 1:00am etc etc...After talking to them for about a minute, they left and went on their way. As I see it, the man in the situation aboved made a mistake by not following the cop's orders, If I had ignored their questions and tried to run away, I would have been tossed in jail as well. His follow up behavior is what caused his arrest...not police racism.

[JHB]

23. My guess in this case is...

...a combination that is too thoroughly mixed to clearly identify one or the other (at least based on this one incident with the information given). It may have been "primarily" class-profiling, but his race was almost certainly a negative in this situation, and it would have been one of the first things the cop noticed.