NYTimes
Albert W. Florence believes that black men who drive nice cars in New Jersey run a risk of being questioned by the police. For that reason, he kept handy a 2003 document showing he had paid a court-imposed fine stemming from a traffic offense, just in case.
It did not seem to help.
In March 2005, Mr. Florence was in the passenger seat of his BMW when a state trooper pulled it over for speeding. His wife, April, was driving. His 4-year-old son, Shamar, was in the back.
The trooper ran a records search, and he found an outstanding warrant based on the supposedly unpaid fine. Mr. Florence showed the trooper the document, but he was arrested anyway. [...]
Albert W. Florence believes that black men who drive nice cars in New Jersey run a risk of being questioned by the police. For that reason, he kept handy a 2003 document showing he had paid a court-imposed fine stemming from a traffic offense, just in case.
It did not seem to help.
In March 2005, Mr. Florence was in the passenger seat of his BMW when a state trooper pulled it over for speeding. His wife, April, was driving. His 4-year-old son, Shamar, was in the back.
The trooper ran a records search, and he found an outstanding warrant based on the supposedly unpaid fine. Mr. Florence showed the trooper the document, but he was arrested anyway. [...]
Given the relative number of times Rafi is stopped by police vs other people driving the same minivan in the same neighborhood (Passaic, NJ), I was forced to conclude that yes, being picked up for DWB -- Driving While Black -- is a real phenomenon.
ReplyDelete-micha
I was stopped so often that I could not wait for the lease on my new Suburban to finish. I bought a used Chevy van instead of leasing another new Suburban even though the Suburban would have cost me less per month to drive.
ReplyDeleteNow, the SWB is getting so oppressive, ie. I cannot check out without security coming over to verify every tag or tailing me so closely that I feel like I am being sexually harassed etc,
Or salespeople taking the things I am planning to try on out of my cart, yelling at my children or ignoring me if I ask a question.
When I go to check out, the cashiers stand there like statues even though there are no other customers.
If I can't find it online, I just drive to a black neighborhood to do my shopping. In America the same stores are everywhere so it really doesn't matter. The only difference is in how I am treated by the employees and other customers in the stores.
For me the extra time and the extra gas are worth it in this race obsessed country.
Jersey Girl - you are black?
ReplyDeleteIf cops are looking for a black male suspect (car theft or any crime for that matter), there is no point in them stopping anyone other than black males when searching for the thug.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the fact that blacks commit a preponderance of violent crime, it makes sense that they stop black males much more frequently, as that is the description of the suspect being sought.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if 50% of crimes are committed by blacks and 50% by whites, when searching for a black criminal the cops need only stop blacks (and vice versa when the description of the suspect is white.)
ReplyDeleteConsidering that blacks are about 10% of the population, if 50% of those stopped are blacks (in the above example), each individual black has a greater likelihood of being pulled over even though an equal number of whites are being stopped -- since even though 50% of those searched are white, whites represent 90% of the population (using this fictitious statistics for illustration purposes.)
What it boils down to, quite simply (despite the race-baiters attempts to make it sound more complicated), is that blacks commit a vast amount of more crime. Certainly proportionately, and as I last recall even numerically (despite being a small portion of the population.)
Sam- I am an American born Jew of North African descent.
ReplyDeleteStrangers who meet me usually think that I am Creole (our mother spoke French to us as children also), my skin tone is W-7 and my hair (which no one sees) and my daughters hair is C-3.
Actually according to "Crime in the United States 2008: Arrests by Race". U.S. Department of Justice
ReplyDeleteWhite Americans were arrested more than any other race for property crimes in 2008, (approx 70% of all arrests) for Burglary, Larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft and 78% of Arsons.
Minorities in America comprise approximately 30% of the population (102.5 million in 2007) so actually the number of arrests made for whites charged with property crimes is commensurate with the population with a significantly higher representation in arson crimes.
Still, the number of criminals in the black community is very small. Yes, if you are looking for a criminal of unknown race, the odds are higher that he's black. But if you see a 20-something-yr-old driving a nice car, it's not measurably likely that he is committing a crime. (And in a yarmulka in a frum neighborhood, no less.)
ReplyDeleteThe increased numbers are nowhere near large enough to justify violating the principle of "innocent until proven guilty".
-micha