RACIAL PROFILING – Bike Safety & Repair Program, Free Minds Collective Summer Enrichment Camp
@ William Wirt Middle School & Center for Educational Partnership
Riverdale, MD (Prince George’s County)
July 2007
1. ASK: what is racial profiling? (See definition below) Have you ever heard of the phrase “DWB”? Driving While Black/Brown
definition: (From an education website: http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/02/lp252-05.shtml)
racial profiling is the practice of targeting a person for criminal investigation based on his or her racial characteristics. Profiling can also be based on other characteristics, such as age (YOUTH) or gender (MALE).
Discuss the following statement from ACLU: “A July 2001 Gallup poll reported that 55 percent of whites and 83 percent of blacks believe racial profiling is widespread.”
2. How is this related to bike-riding? (BWB – Biking While Brown???)
3. ASK questions below – how would you feel etc.?
Ask students: Have you ever been stopped by police and questioned because of specific characteristics, such as race, age, or gender ? How would you feel if you were stopped by police and questioned because of such characteristics? What evidence of a crime do police have when they detain and question a person based on profiling? What rights of profiled suspects are violated? What are some reasons people give to support profiling? What are some reasons people give against profiling? What are the benefits of profiling? What are the dangers of profiling?
4. know your rights!
from ACLU:
Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state. Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin. Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake. Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.
5. role play?
What can you do if you are stopped? (from http://www.ethnicmajority.com/racial_profiling.htm)
Civil rights attorneys advise the following:
1. Know your rights: you are not required to give permission to police officer to search your car. You can deny the request - but do so politely.
2. Don't argue: the police may try to intimidate you. Do not be confrontational and provoke an argument.
3. Get the names of the officers: be sure to get their badge numbers, squad car number, license plate number, and make a note of the location and time of day.
4. File a complaint if you feel you have been mis-treated: contact the ACLU or other civil rights organizations for legal advice.
What other things can you do? (Document the interaction with your phone if you have a camera on it, have witnesses or ask your friends to come with you, etc.)
Notes:
from ACLU April 29, 2007: “The [Department of Justice statistics] report found that blacks and Hispanics were roughly three times as likely to be searched during a traffic stop, blacks were twice as likely to be arrested and blacks were nearly four times as likely to experience the threat or use of force during interactions with the police.
“And while the Department of Justice says that the higher rate of searches of blacks and Hispanics is not necessarily the result of racial bias, it begs a critical question: why are blacks and Hispanics subject to searches disproportionately? It’s a question that needs to be answered.
Maryland (Prince Georges County) - The Washington Post reported that in May 2001 federal prosecutors charged a county police officer with releasing her police dog on an unarmed Mexican immigrant as part of a pattern of using and threatening the use of the dog on people of color. Despite being the subject of four lawsuits, twice being guilty of making false statements to a supervisor, and five prior instances of releasing the dog on suspects who weren't resisting, and being flagged by a departmental "early warning" system, the officer remained undisciplined in any substantive way. In 1999 the Post reported that thirteen police dog excessive force suits had been filed in Prince Georges circuit and federal courts, in addition to five others that ended in judgement for plaintiffs or settlement. Of the total, ten alleged repeated bites of suspects once under police control, or while cuffed or on the ground.
@ William Wirt Middle School & Center for Educational Partnership
Riverdale, MD (Prince George’s County)
July 2007
1. ASK: what is racial profiling? (See definition below) Have you ever heard of the phrase “DWB”? Driving While Black/Brown
definition: (From an education website: http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/02/lp252-05.shtml)
racial profiling is the practice of targeting a person for criminal investigation based on his or her racial characteristics. Profiling can also be based on other characteristics, such as age (YOUTH) or gender (MALE).
Discuss the following statement from ACLU: “A July 2001 Gallup poll reported that 55 percent of whites and 83 percent of blacks believe racial profiling is widespread.”
2. How is this related to bike-riding? (BWB – Biking While Brown???)
3. ASK questions below – how would you feel etc.?
Ask students: Have you ever been stopped by police and questioned because of specific characteristics, such as race, age, or gender ? How would you feel if you were stopped by police and questioned because of such characteristics? What evidence of a crime do police have when they detain and question a person based on profiling? What rights of profiled suspects are violated? What are some reasons people give to support profiling? What are some reasons people give against profiling? What are the benefits of profiling? What are the dangers of profiling?
4. know your rights!
from ACLU:
Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state. Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin. Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake. Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.
5. role play?
What can you do if you are stopped? (from http://www.ethnicmajority.com/racial_profiling.htm)
Civil rights attorneys advise the following:
1. Know your rights: you are not required to give permission to police officer to search your car. You can deny the request - but do so politely.
2. Don't argue: the police may try to intimidate you. Do not be confrontational and provoke an argument.
3. Get the names of the officers: be sure to get their badge numbers, squad car number, license plate number, and make a note of the location and time of day.
4. File a complaint if you feel you have been mis-treated: contact the ACLU or other civil rights organizations for legal advice.
What other things can you do? (Document the interaction with your phone if you have a camera on it, have witnesses or ask your friends to come with you, etc.)
Notes:
from ACLU April 29, 2007: “The [Department of Justice statistics] report found that blacks and Hispanics were roughly three times as likely to be searched during a traffic stop, blacks were twice as likely to be arrested and blacks were nearly four times as likely to experience the threat or use of force during interactions with the police.
“And while the Department of Justice says that the higher rate of searches of blacks and Hispanics is not necessarily the result of racial bias, it begs a critical question: why are blacks and Hispanics subject to searches disproportionately? It’s a question that needs to be answered.
Maryland (Prince Georges County) - The Washington Post reported that in May 2001 federal prosecutors charged a county police officer with releasing her police dog on an unarmed Mexican immigrant as part of a pattern of using and threatening the use of the dog on people of color. Despite being the subject of four lawsuits, twice being guilty of making false statements to a supervisor, and five prior instances of releasing the dog on suspects who weren't resisting, and being flagged by a departmental "early warning" system, the officer remained undisciplined in any substantive way. In 1999 the Post reported that thirteen police dog excessive force suits had been filed in Prince Georges circuit and federal courts, in addition to five others that ended in judgement for plaintiffs or settlement. Of the total, ten alleged repeated bites of suspects once under police control, or while cuffed or on the ground.
Comments
hey! so i think focusing on "what do you do" if your stopped kinda
thing is good. its usually what most workshops re missing right?
role-playing is good.
i would start out slower though. maybe get them talking about what
they think people assosiate with youth on bikes, what kinda youth,
what kinda bikes. just get them talking about themselves and bikes
and such.
then make the connection between DWB and bike-riding.
so since all my shit is in a box somewhere bc i'm moving i'm unlikely
to find my lesson plan. the way i broke it down though was to focus
on "association". so this is roughly how i remember doing things, my
memory is fuzzy on this though:
1. so call and respond: "peanut butter and...." and then would have to
respond with the ending. i came up with a few more phrases like that.
we talked about how the two things go together bc of culture, its been
like that for so long etc, but how there is nothing really inherent
about the combination
2. i would say a race and they would write down everything that came
to mind. (black, latin@, native, asian, white are the ones i said) i
should have included mixed
they they shared
3. the exercise with the cut-outs and the crime and accusing people
based on what they look like.
*** there was a moment when we were discussing who was the criminal
that one girl was like "wait a minute! we're doing the same thing to
these people that cops do to us!" as in, we were profiling the cut-out
people based on stereotypes/associations we had with sepcific races.
it was amazing. she is so smart.
I think i wanted to follow that up with the amadou dialo (spelling?) i
think i did.
so yeah, that is roughly what i did. hope this is helpful. i'll be
out of work so you can call me in a few hours if you need more help!
g
now that the "conversation"/lesson is over, i agree with GC that the set-up was too rushed. i should have done some exercises to demonstrate our own assumptions and biases and how society constructs profiles for different races (ie: stereotypes).
the attention of the students was pretty scattered. their focus oscillated between the topic and their own hunger, issues, etc. the girls in the class were either talking to each other or staring listlessly (for various reasons), although one girl was totally engaged for the entire conversation and another girl said that she learned something new ("hey i never knew that! i learned something new!")
it was good to have the space for WF to tell his stories about experiences with the police. the other students were on the whole supportive and attentive to his stories.
AS (the main instructor for bike repair/safety) & I debriefed a little bit afterwards, and brought up one of the main concerns of the lesson: antagonism of the black students in the class towards "spanish/hispanic" students in general. 2 of the 3 black students (all of whom are male) shared a story with the class about how one of their friends, a black male, got in trouble with the latino students at school and that one of the latino gangs threatened to beat him up. the black students rallied around their friend and the police were called to diffuse the situation. i felt really uncomfortable addressing the problem of black/brown tensions in this setting, although looking back on it i think that it definitely should have been addressed on the spot.
other things that should have been addressed: how class affects profiling. police will stop white people of a certain class as much as they will stop people of color.
later i spoke with G (SM-H's dad & poet & educator) and i will post that conversation on the main blog.
a lot of the really crazy feelings/doubts/frustrations that troubled me back in the fall of 2006 (in Providence) hit me in the face when i was trying to facilitate the conversation.
it was less a conversation and more a directed dialog with lessons interspersed. i really emphasized that young people have rights, that police have weapons, and documentation is key.
please post your comments!