O cto b er 4, 2000
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Opinion
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(T b r J J o r t t a n b
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Racial Profiling Incident Draws Moose Apology
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Charles H. Washington
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Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
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Michael Leighton
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Joy Ramos
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pointed at us.
W e w ere both then handcuffed by
the police officers. T he pistol and
shotguns w ere aim ed at us until we
w ere handcuffed. A t this point, I
asked a police officer w hy we were
stopped and treated in the m anner
decried above. He responded by ask
ing if I ow ned the vehicle I was
driving, I said yes. He then asked me
for my identification. He reached
into my pockets and took out my
driver's license. A few seconds later
he said w e m ade a m istake.
At that point, they took the hand
cuffs o ff us. I then told him that 1 was
a law-abiding citizen and have al
ways supported the w ork o f our law
enforcem ent officers, but my wife
and I w ere em barrassed, hum iliated
and afraid for our lives and did not
appreciate the w ay we w ere treated.
He then indicated that a black man
had stolen a black infinity SUV at
gunpoint earlier in the evening and
they w ere looking for the individual.
I then told an officer that m y wife
and I w orked at the W hite H ouse and
had not broken any laws. A n officer
then apologized to us and let us go.
I asked for and received his business
card.
I la ter th en ca lled th e S ilv er
Spring, M aryland District H eadquar
ters and asked for the officer in
charge. A gain, I m ade it know n that
my wife and I w ere strong support
ers o f law enforcem ent officers, but
w e w ere traum atized as result o f the
stop by the police officers. H e then
told m e that a black m ale had stolen
an SUV at gunpoint and that is why
covenant on B ush’s house, written
in 1939, started, “ Said prem ises shall
be used for private dw elling pur
poses only and by w hite persons
only, excluding bona fide servants
o f any race.” They w ere com m on at
that point in our history, and prob
ably fairly com m on in older homes
in the South.
It’s unknown, how ever, if Bush
even knew the covenant existed since
it was part o f any o f the docum ents
he signed. The covenant w as am ong
docum ents held by the county gov
ernm ent.
Bush bought the house in 1988
and sold it in 1995. Even ifh e wanted
to, he could not have enforced the
racial covenant on the hom e because
racial covenants were found uncon
stitutional in 1948. In the case o f
S h elley v. K raem er, the U ntied
States Suprem e C ourt ruled that the
14th A m endm ent to the Constitu
tion does not p ro tect racial cov
enants because they require the gov-
em m ent to discrim inate against
its citizens.
Furtherm ore, the Fair H ous
ing A ct o f 1968 outlaw ed new
racial covenants and any discrim i
nation in housing. A nd the Texas
legislature specifically outlaw ed
racial covenants in 1984.
Racial co venants are no w an anach
ronism -much like a law that is still on
the books in Newark, New Jersey
making it illegal to buy ice cream
after 6 p.m. without a doctor's note.
An oppressive law, to be sure, but
Ben and Jerry need not wony about
ending up in prison sifting through
millions o f documents and micro
film - all to remove racist doctrine
that is no longer enforceable. Clearly,
it would be a waste o f tax dollars.
There are probably hundreds of
black Americans and other minori
ties living in homes with racial cov
enants that were supposed to keep
them from being there. But they are,
and no one is going to remove them.
F orm er P ortland P olice C h ie f
Charles M oose apologizes after
a couple accuses his
M ontgom ery County, M aryla n d
p o lice fo r c e with racial profiling.
we w ere stopped. 1 asked the officer
to fax m e a copy o f the incident
report regarding the stolen vehicle.
A fter receiving and review ing the
incident report and reflecting on the
report betw een 11 p.m. and nearly
daw n, we becam e m ore upset be
cause o f the follow ing facts:
1) . W e did not violate any traffic
laws that w ould ju stify us being
stopped.
2) . The incident report indicated
that the suspect w as a 5 ft. light
skinned black male. I am 5 ’ 11 and
dark-skinned.
3) . M y vehicle is blue, not black.
T he street w as w ell lit and there
w ere num erous spotlights on my
w ife the vehicle and me.
4) . M y tag num ber is registered
to m y w ife and I, not to the ow ner o f
the stolen vehicle.
W e a p p re c ia te d M o n tg o m ery
C ounty Police C h ief C harles M oose
calling m e and apologizing for the
m istake. H ow ever, w e should have
never been handcuffed and had nu
m erous pistols shotguns aim ed at us
given the facts o f the situation.
Let m e b e clear: W e do not feel
en titled to an y special treatm ent
b ecau se o f o u r p o sitio n s in the
W hite House. But, we do not w ant
any m ore innocent people to have to
go through w hat w e w ent through.
W e also w ant to m ake it clear that
our outrage is personal. It in no w ay
reflects the policies o r positions o f
the President. In fact, w e have both
w o rk e d h a rd to s u p p o r t th e
P resid en t’s blanched and effective
approach to crim inal justice, w hich
includes putting m ore police on the
street and giving them the tools they
need to do their jobs. This approach
has resulted in the crim e rate going
dow n seven years in a row. The Presi
dent has been a strong supporter o f
the police and has w orked hard to
im prove the relationship betw een
citizens and police. And, he has taken
a strong stand against racial profil
ing, including issuing a directive to
collect data on the race, ethnicity
and gender o f individuals stopped is
to help us to determ ine w here prob
lems exist in the Federal Law en
forcem ent context, and to guide the
developm ent o f solutions to help us
increase the fairness o f Federal law
enforcem ent activities.
In summary, we are upset at how we
were treated and hope the attention fo
cused on our unfortunate incident will
help prevent innocent people from be
ing treated this way in the future.
anager
Gary Ann T aylor
C
S tu te m en l by B ob J. N a sh u n d
J a n is F. K earney regarding stop
by M ontgo m ery C ounty, M a ryla n d
Police.
O n Sept. 6, at ap p ro x im ately
10:15 p.m ., we believe w e w ere vic
tim s o f racial profiling by M ont
gom ery C ounty Police. Until that
m om ent, we had an intellectual un
derstanding o f the bogus crim e o f
(Driving W hile Black). But, in a few
terrifying m om ents, w e felt it more
deeply and more personally than any
w ords could ever convey.
There has been grow ing interest
on the part o f the m edia and others
about w hat happened. W e w ant to
take this opportunity to tell you in
our own words.
First o f all, w e w ere returning
from a dinner at a relativ e’s hom e
and had not violated any traffic laws
w h atso ev er. S u d d e n ly , a p p ro x i
m ately eight police cars and twice
that many police officers surrounded
our vehicle and pointed spotlights,
pistols and shotguns at our vehicle.
At this point, neither one o f us had
said one w ord to the police and we
follow ed each and every order very
carefully and slow ly because we
feared for our lives given the large
n um ber o f p isto ls and sh o tg u n s
ir e c t o r
Robert Parker
4 7 4 7 NE M artin Luther King,
Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR 9 7 2 1 1
5 03 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3
Fax 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5
George W. and
His Racial
Covenant
B y Tara Wall, N ational A dvi
sors C ouncil o f P ro ject 2 1 a n d
a id e to M ic h ig a n G ov. J o h n
E ngler (R).
Y ou may have heard the rum or
that presidential candidate G eorge
W. Bush ow ned a hom e w ith a
racial covenant that kept him from
selling it to m inorities. It's true, he
did. But so did the late President
John F. Kennedy. For the two o f
them to have a clause in the deeds
to their hom es does not m ake them
racist because such covenants are
com m on but unenforceable.
A largely hidden relic o f our
nation’s past ignorance, racial cov
enants w ere m eant to keep neigh
borhoods exclusively w hite. The
1
Economy Leaves
Children Behind
C hild poverty in A m erica drops
from 13.5 m illion children in 1998
to 12.1 m illion in 1999, according
to new U.S. C ensus Bureau figures.
W hile the percentage o f children
living in poverty in A m erica is at its
low est level since 1979, the per
centage o f poor children in w orking
fam ilies continues to clim b w ith
77% o f poor children living in fam i
lies w here som eone is w orking.
T he C h ild re n ’s D efen se Fund
hopes the dow nw ard trend contin
ues but believe that 12.1 m illion
children in poverty is still too high
and that too m any A m erican chil
dren rem ain at the bottom o f the
nation’s agenda.
“W e are very glad that 1.4 m illion
children are no longer poor, but we
are very sad that 12.1 m illion chil-
dren are still poor and a great m ajor
ity o f them in w orking fam ilies,”
s a id M a ria n W rig h t E d e lm a n ,
fo u n d e r a n d p r e s id e n t o f th e
C h ild re n ’s D efen se Fund. “ It is
sham eful that m ore children are liv
ing in poverty now than 20 years age.
W hen has there ever been a better
tim e for this nation to invest in its
children than w hen it has huge fed
eral and state surplus, billions in
tobacco settlem ents, billions in w el
fare reform m oney, m illions in un
spent child health m oney in the state,
and 8 years o f prosperity? I f not
now, w hen?”
The Census poverty figures show
that more families are struggling to stay
afloat in the workforce, and that the
percentage o f poor children living in
working families continues to rise.
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