by Ashley Adams/PNN media intern

I don't remember where I was headed, but I do remember how my heart raced
when the Berkeley police officer began tailing me. I turned off my tape
player and said to myself, Please don't read my tags please! My out of
state tags had been expired for a year. I could not afford to renew them,
nor could I afford to pay a ticket. I put on my right blinker before
turning, which was my attempt to not be noticed. The cop didn't follow me.
I took a breath of relief and turned my music back up while I questioned why I got
away with no problems, again.

**************

The sun had just set when I was driving home to Berkeley from my mom's
house. I passed the El Cerrito shopping center and that's when the cop got
behind me. I wasnít trippin because I knew I was clean. I have a valid
license, current registration, and no outstanding tickets. Red and blue
lights began to flicker and flash. I tried to tame my racing heart because
I knew I did nothing wrong. I pulled over to the right side of the road a
few feet from a stop sign. The officer came up to my window, asking for my
license. He told me that there was a purse snatching at the shopping center
and that I fit the description of the thief, a black female. Knowing that I wasn't the
thief, I went along with Mr. Officer the best I could. I thought to myself,
Someone's purse got snatched, that sucks! While I sat in my car the cop ran my plates and my license number. I have no criminal history. With no reason to ticket me, the cop let me go.

At this time I just wanted to go home. Getting away from the officer as
soon as possible was the only thing on my mind. Upon my departure, I failed
to come to a complete stop at the stop sign a few feet in front of where I
pulled over. As I turned right, the cop followed. He put his lights on and
pulled me over, again! This time he got me. He gave me a ticket priced at
150 dollars for failing to stop at the stop sign. I figured I was in the
wrong, as usual, considering I have been pulled over seven times in one year
for what I though were valid reasons.

The "valid" reason is dark skin, and this story belongs to my friend, Lache Baily, a 21 year old UC Berkeley student. When I heard of her Driving While Black(DWB) experiences, I was stunned. I am a 22 year old white female that has been pulled over less than five times in the duration of six years. I even drove around with expired tags for over a year. I asked Lache if all the cops
she dealt with were white males, I had a feeling that they were. "Yes, I have never dealt with cops of any other ethnicity." Lache's brown eyes and honey-toned face remain bright with a smile as she confronts the subject of systematic racism.

"I feel like I kind of know its hella shady and racist, " Lache continued in a quick tense voice, "at the same time, every time I've been pulled over, it seems valid so I don't feel I'm in a place to argue. But after I talked to you, I'm asking myself how oblivious am I to this shit?" I think to myself as she is speaking, welcome to the unjust world of racial profiling.

I watch frustration flood her face as she continues, "I was like, you guys suck. I don't like cops, but I never really have stressed on it, or thought about it. It's not until I tell my stories to people that it seems weird to me. When I tell my stories it forces me to think about it."

I personally did not realize how bad the DWB phenomonom was until Lache and I swapped stories of police encounters. We are similar in age, we've been driving the same amount of time, and we live on the same street. Yet when it comes to being pulled over and dealing with the police, Lache has dealt with the biased judgment of law enforcement in ways that seem so casual that they can be easily overlooked.

When I reflect on driving with expired tags for a year and having no problems with law enforcement, I question, "Does white skin have anything to do with it?" I wish the answer was no.

******************************

Should "Driving while black" be a crime?

reprinted from thechronicle.demon.co.uk

Scores of Black Britons – including prominent athletes, Home Office officials and government workers, artists, lawyers, and business leaders -- have experienced the humiliation of being stopped on the streets of London and other British cities for no other apparent reason than being Black and driving a car.

This new "crime" mirrors the common complaint, highlighted in testimony to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, that police officers on the streets systematically target innocent young blacks for "stop and frisk" searches.

No social class among blacks is exempt from a "Driving while black" incident. Carl Josephs, a meat factory worker in Birmingham, was stopped 34 times in 2 years - without a specific charge or even a speeding ticket. He says he was singled out because he was black and drove a car.

When Tim McDonald was pulled over, his father, Trinidadian -born Trevor McDonald and Britain's best known news reader, called on police to end their habit of stopping black youths in cars.

Being pulled over for "Driving while Black" is a traumatic event. Few white motorists have the same story to tell. But, almost every Black Briton can tell you that they or someone they know have been stopped by the police without being found guilty of any violation of the law.

Black motorists more likely to be stopped than whites DWB is a heart-stopping common occurrence for Black motorists, and only a minor nuisance to whites. According to a report in The Guardian 13 March. "Last year in the area policed by the Metropolitan Police, the rate for stop-and-searches was 37 per 1,000 among whites, 66 per
1,000 among Asians, and 180 per 1,000 among blacks". In the London area more than 36% of those stopped were from ethnic minorities, who make up about 20% of the population.

Turner art prize winner Chris Ofili's brush with the law is one example of a continuing trend, says The Guardian. Ofili, who drives a lime-green Ford Capri, and has been stopped
many times, says "It's a very common occurrence...They had absolutely no reason to
stop me...I always carry my license with me so they can't issue me with a "producer" (a
summons to report to a police station and produce a driver's license and car documents)."

"Racial profiling" British examples of DWB take on a more invidious character when compared to a common practice on the State highways of America called "racial profiling". This literally means that police officers are always on the lookout for black males driving cars. The ACLU, an American civil liberties group, has won racial profiling cases in Indiana and Maryland with damages.

In California, San Diego Chargers football player Shawn Lee was pulled over, and he and his girlfriend were handcuffed and detained by the police for half an hour on the side of Interstate 15. The officer said that Lee was stopped because he was driving a vehicle that fit the description of one stolen earlier that evening. However, Lee was driving a Jeep Cherokee, a sports utility vehicle, and the reportedly stolen vehicle was a Honda sedan.

The Road to Freedom Illegal stop-and-searches like "Driving while Black" and the use of racial profiling can be stopped, says the ACLU http://www.aclu.org. In America Rep. John Conyers, a black congressman, introduced the "Traffic Stops Statistics Act" to encourage police departments to keep detailed records of traffic stops, including the race and ethnicity of the person stopped. Here in Britain, such a law could be backed up by the Home Office and the national collection of data to determine the full scope of this problem.

Practical actions include a hotline that victims can call to report incidents involving DWB. Another is a handy printed pocket card that details the motorists' rights in race-stop encounters. Complaint forms should be readily provided by the police to drivers who feel offended by DWB or race-based traffic stops.

Ending DWB and racial profiling on the nation's streets, roads and highways should also be addressed through public education, and by leaflets in major languages made available at all local government offices, libraries and public buildings.

Finally, whether you agree or not, we invite you to post your thoughts to:

editor@thechronicle.demon.co.uk