Poet Michael Amity ran across this video online, and he doesn’t like what he sees.
This video shows an example of ‘profiling,’ a tactic that is racist and still proliferating shamefully in 2014. As with ‘stop and frisk’, this kind of systemic, selective policing causes disproportionate attribution of crimes–fueling the notion that minorities are criminals–and jukes statistics to fill unacknowledged quotas.
In short, police are creating crimes spuriously, and it’s illegal.
There may be enough of a reason to violate someone’s rights, on a case by case basis. In the case we see above, however, it is clearly abuse by government servants paid to keep the peace.
In the video we see a Bronx bus rider who paid his fare be assaulted by cops. The video is going viral, having gotten thousands of shares in just over a day. He’s going to sue and win and this will cause taxes to rise, hurting all citizens. Stupid shit is stupid shit. A badge–or, in this case, several–does not excuse it.
Aggressive police tactics on the street are unnecessary, in my opinion. I live in New York, so my views are somewhat affected by the terror attacks of 9/11, but I value liberty more than security. If there’s no crime, the amount of force used between cop and citizen/taxpayer should be of equal respect.
I’ve been illegally searched one time in my life. I reported it and it was taken quite seriously by the Civilian Complaints Review Board. I didn’t pursue it though because I thought it was too much of a hassle and I don’t consider myself a target of regular abuse by law enforcement. Full disclosure: I am white.
The law is on the citizen’s side 100%, yet how many times has this man received selective targeting in his life? More than once, I’d imagine. His only crime was being black and unapologetic.