Ariz. Cop Had Black Men Rap Away Ticket

[Kadie]

Ariz. Cop Had Black Men Rap Away Ticket
Friday, December 1, 2006 01 02 PM

(12-01) 13:02 PST Tempe, Ariz. (AP) --

snip...
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman and police Chief Tom Ryff apologized for the show Thursday and suspended its future production after black community leaders voiced outrage and disappointment over it.

The segment appeared on "Tempe StreetBeat," a program produced by police in the Phoenix suburb that followed several officers on patrol. It shows Sgt. Chuck Schoville pulling over two men in August in a mall parking lot.

He first asks for a name and ID from the driver and then asks the two men if they knew how much the fine is for littering.

The officer then tells the men that they can avoid getting a littering ticket "if the two of you just do a little rap about — what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering."

The two men agree and each perform a short rap, laughing afterward.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/12/01/national/a130237S29.DTL

[everythingsxen]

1. I dunno...

If the guys who did the rap laughed it off, it doesn't seem like that big a deal. I'd perform "I'm a little teapot" wearing a tutu if it would get me out of a several hundred dollar ticket.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Maybe it wasn't a big deal to them but an office has no right...

...to request it. Many would consider this a form of cruel and unusual punishment. The fact that the officer is in a position of authority and wears a sidearm on his hip doesn't make the request any more comfortable, if you get my drift.

PB

[everythingsxen]

4. No, I agree with you, in principle

But I haven't watched the video of it, so it is a bit hard to judge exactly what happened. All I was saying was that if the guys weren't pissed off about it.. :shrug:

[LanternWaste]

10. I agree

If I could get out of a ticket from a black cop by singing a country-western ditty, I'd do it and laugh for days afterwards.

But like you, I haven't seen the video and there may be some relevant context I'm unaware of.

[hughee99]

7. I'm not all that comfortable with it either...

but it sounds like they at least had a choice. If I got a several hundred dollar ticket, I'd be willing to make an ass out of myself for a few minutes to avoid the fine. I don't know that the cop was going to really intimidate them with the cameras rolling.

Sounds like something from Reno 911, though.

[bobbolink]

11. Yeah, like requesting a tap dance, or minstrel show?

What was this cop thinking?

[Poll_Blind]

16. Totally. And, if it was, say, a request to recite the Gettysburg address...

...or something that wasn't tinged (or above) the charge of racism or stereotyping, I would have 100% no problem with it at all. I still think it'd technically be illegal because whatever request he or she made would fall outside the baliwick of the executive branch but it takes on a far-less sinister tone.

PB

[krispos42]

20. The police are not the judge

They can't sentence, at least not legally. I know they job gives them a lot of leeway in deciding whether or not to issue a summons, but I'm not hip on dancing for an officer's amusement and indugence. I might do it to get out of a ticket, but I don't want the officers to have the right or power to ask me that in the first place.

[personman]

5. Doesn't sound a little racist to you?

Do all black people rap? If it was an asian person would he have been asked to do kung-fu? Is it ok if cops go around forcing people to act out their racial stereotype and demean themselves to avoid prosecution? Maybe it is, I don't think so, but to each their own.

Edit: As a descendant of Hungarians, I think I'll go with the gypsy stereotype; rob him and leave town.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. That's what I was thinking to...

but then I wonder who first brought up rap in the conversation, the cop or the black guys?

[MrCoffee]

9. maybe they were listening to rap in their car...

i dunno, that would make me think they liked rap.

who knows?

[personman]

12. If I listen to opera does that make me Pavarotti?

I'll follow this story, but I wouldn't think there would be such uproar if there wasn't something there.

[MrCoffee]

13. no, but i might ask you to sing Figaro.

i didn't say it made them rappers, i was simply saying that there may be context here that makes this whole story less sinister than some are proposing.

[everythingsxen]

19. exactly

without some more context to the story, I am not sure there is anything particularly sinister about it.

I admit that on the surface, it does sound a little fishy, but given the lack of a lawsuit by the two guys involved, or any comment from them even, it seems like people on a slow news day digging for a story that doesn't exist.

It sounds a lot like the Arnold thread from yesterday "Unedited Arnold 'How about some wild sex'" which tries to paint Arnold as a sex crazed maniac, but in fact he is just a shitty joke teller and the article sited was just digging for something to attack him on.

I agree that those who do wrong should be made to face justice for their actions, but often the media is willing to create stories when one does not exist. I will be watching this though for follow ups.

[bobbolink]

17. No.

It sounds a *LOT* racist.

:) :hi:

[ComerPerro]

30. LOL @ your edit, the gypsy stereotype

[dipsydoodle]

3. You sure this isn't a joke

A pal in NC sent me a similar line early this week about a guy who got pulled over on suspicion of drinking and he told the cop he was just tired and he was a juggler. The cop said that if he could juggle three lit flares he'd ok the guy to drive on. While the guy was juggling the flares a drunk pulled up behind the police car, jumped out of his car as said " you might as well arrest me know - there's no way I can that."

[rocktivity]

6. The cop asked them to rap simply BECAUSE they were black?

Ewww. Would he have asked a couple of cute young women to imitate Shakira?

I saw an episode of Cops where two black kids were pulled over. There appeared to be a problem with the car's tags, but a check on the car came back clean, and both occupants had proper ID. Just as I was wondering why Cops was wasting airtime on a NON-arrest, one of them said, "You got a minute? We've been working on this anti-drunk-driving rap," and they did a few lines of it. Though the cop admitted not being into rap, he thought it was a great way to get the message out!

:headbang:
rocknation

[leftofthedial]

14. I have no problem with this

as long as he lets crackers off if they yodel for him.

[Rockstone]

15. But first do a little jig

You know, a dance man!

Well come on, boy, You've got it in your blood!

[Donald Ian Rankin]

18. Very few people even know what a jig is, nowadays.

It's fairly specific, although I believe it used to be more general - it's a type of tune in 6/8 (single jig or double jig) or 9/8 (slip jig), or a dance done to such a tune. Nowadays such dances are usually set dances rather than solo ones, so "dance a jig" isn't a great instruction to give one person - "play a jig" or "hum a jig" might be better.

On the other hand, in Cotswold Morris a jig refers simply to any dance done solo or as a couple, rather than in a set, so that interpretation would make sense, but they're difficult to make look any good, in your blood or otherwise (although great fun to watch if done well).

Donald Ian Rankin, the tune whose name I use as my internet nickname, is a jig, incidentally - http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind?P=donald+ian+rankin&find=FIND&m=title&W=wide&limit=1000&thresh=5

[Poll_Blind]

21. Same with hornpipe. n/t

PB

[dipsydoodle]

22. Apart from the Caledonian and Irish crowd

most common ref. to that is old time fiddle / Appalachian mountain music etc. plenty of that here in the UK believe it or not. Best music on the planet. :)

[Donald Ian Rankin]

33. I don't know about Irish, but I worry that Scottish is a fading tradition

It seems to have difficulty attracting younger dancers and musicians, at least here in England. There are some exceptions - the Cambridge University Reel Club, where I learned to dance, is mostly young (and brilliant), and there are some other similar clubs, and I think more younger dancers in Scotland than here, but the average age of Scottish dancers seems to be much, much higher than the ones you get at English ceilidhs, or even at English social dances. I worry slightly how many people I'm going to have left to dance with in 30 years time.

[Rockstone]

28. In this case it was a reference to M*A*S*H

In the first appearance of Harry Morgan on MASH, he played a high general who was insane like Patton. Nobody believed this until some thing at the end when he says to a black person the quote I used. He also said, "A radish will not stand in the way of victory - Marshall Foche"

[happydreams]

23. What a cool idea. I like it!

[nini]

26. are you serious?

?

[happydreams]

29. Yes.

I think it shows that the police, at least in this instance, respect and value black culture.

[ContraBass Black]

24. This is odd.

"He first asks for a name and ID from the driver and then asks the two men if they know how much the fine is for littering."


"Because the men in the video were not cited, Tempe police had no record of their names."

[nini]

25. did he have his white hood on when he asked?

:eyes:

what an asshole.

[On the Road]

27. This Pisses Me Off

*I* want a chance to sing my way out of a ticket, dammit!

[happydreams]

31. This topic shows me that the Right hasn't cornered

the market on bigotry. Many posters have pre-judged this police officers intentions without hesitation. :eyes:

[judaspriestess]

32. I have to watch the video to see if its racist

but isn't rap the music of choice for many? maybe the cop likes rap and wanted to hear it.

I am glad the subject of the song was anti-litter. Thats a huge sore spot for me. LITTERING IS DISGUSTING AND SHAMEFUL.

Don't mess with Texas = anti -litter campaign and its theme song sung by the late great Stevie Ray Vaughn.

on edit: typo :)

[marmar]

34. What if the rap song he chose to recite was "Fuck the Police" by N.W.A.?

He would have not only have gotten a ticket, but a beatdown as well.....I'm sorry, but this is just offensive. "Sing, black man, sing." :grr: