Have you ever heard people sarcastically remark about being arrested for walking while black? Well, it happens.
Newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that he is on his way to reforming the controversial “stop-and-frisk” policy.
“Today is the beginning of a long-overdue process: the reform of the NYPD to end illegal and racially discriminatory policing,” said Vincent Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
There’s a similar initiative taking place just 80 miles down the road.
In New Orleans, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been enacting a series of ruthless, racially based community raids under a new program called The Criminal Alien Removal Initiative (CARI).
Since 2002, stop-and-frisk police tactics have led to the interrogation of more than 4 million New Yorkers. Every year, more than 80 percent of those stopped were innocent. A more damning statistic, however, of all of those who are stopped, more than 50 percent were black, almost 30 percent were Latino and never more than 12 percent were white.
Is this set of statistics just a coincidence? Or is walking while black — or Latino — actually against the law?
It sure seems to be the case.
Juan Ramon Pena-Mendoza was arrested by ICE as he was dropping off his 5-year-old daughter — a US citizen — at her school bus stop. Karen Elizabeth Sandoval’s husband was arrested for “driving while Latino” when the family was on its way to purchase school supplies; she now has to raise their two children alone.
Another man detained by ICE overheard one agent say to his colleague, “this is like going hunting,” because there’s nothing like comparing people of color and immigrants to animals.
These separate initiatives have turned urban cities into militant police states that not-so-coincidentally target African-American and Latino males. It’s as if the police aren’t concerned with trying to hide their racist streak.
Advocates of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactics, under the false assumption that these are the people who commit the most crime, seem to think the targeting of black and Latino men is justified.
While young black and Latino people have higher rates of street crime, white people amount to nearly 60 percent of all arrests for violent crimes. White people also commit the most white-collar and corporate crime — ahem, Bernie Madoff.
There’s no real reason to enforce these programs. Some argue for the stop-and-frisk policy, citing the “broken windows theory” to advocate arresting people for petty crimes to stop them from escalating to more serious and possibly violent offenses.
Are we honestly supposed to believe that America is in some sort of “post-racial” state when policies like these are rampant throughout the country?
There is no way to justify stop-and-frisk or CARI-type initiatives. This is racial profiling through and through.
Try flipping on the news at least once a week. You’re bound to see something hideously racist portrayed.
What would you think if your favorite LSU football or basketball player was stopped on the street because he’s black? The police who enforce the stop-and-frisk policy would think they had a right to frisk him because he looked like a “thug” or he was up to no good.
On the other hand, what would you say if the cops completely ignored the white criminals when they appear clean-cut and well-behaved? Maybe they passed up a white guy who has been selling illegally obtained prescription drugs to half of LSU’s population.
Doesn’t he deserve to be stopped and frisked? Or does the color of his skin give him a free pass?
SidneyRose Reynen is an 18-year-old film and art history major from New Orleans.