Texas Again! Racial Profiling Is in the Eye of the Beholder [Video Picture]

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Here we go again: another case of “it all depends on what the definition of “is” is, of people of color regularly getting stopped and/or targeted because of their ethnicity,  Many people who have the blessing of being part of the majority community, and who are not stopped just because of who they are, often can’t wrap their brains around the fact that other individuals who look different have watered down civil and constitutional rights, and are regularly stopped, frisked, harrassed and arrested by pollice, as if the Constution did not exist.

 

Often they will not be able to comprehend the fact there are individuals who are stopped and targeted because of “suspiciion” i.e. because of their ethnicity; they are profiled as “suspicious” on a routine basis.  This hapens more often than we think, and the only reason this particular case is getting publicity is the person who was stopped has connections to the power structure, i.e. a college professor who is also a journalist, and is able to cogently explain the ‘suspicious’ nature of why she was stopped.  

 

This targeting crap has been happening for generations, but we now have the power of using media technology to record these events and document evidence supporting consttutional violations. Unfortunately, some individuals do not see that our constitutional rights are not just what the authorities say they are. We have to record and disseminate the actions occurring with each event, and take a stand by fighting back,

n Oct. 24, University of North Texas professor Dorothy Bland was walking around her affluent Dallas suburb when she was stopped by police. Bland, who is African American, had been exercising in the street. The cops, who were both white, asked her to walk in the opposite direction so she could see traffic or, even better, to use the sidewalk. Roughly three minutes later, she was on her way.

The short and seemingly simple interaction has proved anything but, however.

Several days later, Bland, who is the dean of UNT’s journalism school, penned an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News claiming that she had been racially profiled.

“Walking while black is a crime in many jurisdictions,” she wrote. “May God have mercy on our nation.”

Corinth Police responded by releasing the officers’ dashcam video of the interaction and claiming Bland had turned a “cordial” stop into a “racial issue.”

“If we didn’t have the video, these officers would have serious allegations against them,” police chief Debra Walthall told Fox News. “Every white officer that stops an African American does not constitute racial profiling.”

Now it is Bland, not the cops, who is facing pressure as nearly 2,500 people have signed a petition urging UNT to fire her.

Although disciplinary action against either the professor or the police appears unlikely, the viral video is still generating a heated debate about law enforcement and race relations in this country.

Like Bland, many Americans see the stop as a subtle but significant instance of racial prejudice by police.

“If the officers were concerned only about Bland’s safety and her impeding traffic, why did they ask her for her ID? Why did they need her birthdate? Why did they radio in a ‘name check’?” wrote Dallas Morning News writer Leona Allen, who is African American.

“We’re not fools,” Allen added. “Sure looks like they’re calling to check to see if she had outstanding warrants.”

Many others were equally angry — but with Bland.

“As a person of color, this upsets me,” said former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, who is also African American. “Particularly against what happened in South Carolina. Particularly as this country is wrestling with very real concerns regarding the police treatment of African American youth.”

“She took advantage of a very innocent and thoughtful police response — walk on the right side of the street — she’s just looking for her Skip Gates moment,” Kirk told the Morning News, referring to the 2009 arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, which led to accusations of racism against the Cambridge, Mass., police officer. “There’s a real danger here.”         

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