Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Does Racism Exist Today?

This past weekend a URI graduate was driving home from school and it was late, 2am to be exact, and he was pulled over for speeding. To help paint the picture for you, he drives an Audi and it looks nice and shiny and he's of Guatemalan descent so he looks Spanish. Well he was asked to step out of the car, they tore the shirt off his back and proceeded to hit him. They yelled racial comments like "Where are the drugs? and We know your kind." They gave him a sobriety test and I don't know if taking off your shoes is a new added addition but he was made to do that. When he passed it the first time they made him do it all over again. They searched his car over and over again, they found nothing. He kept telling them that he had just graduated from URI, didn't sell drugs, and had no idea why they were doing this to him. After what seemed like hours and after much abuse both verbally and physically, they told him he could go. They didn't issue him a speeding ticket or a warning, just told him he could go. When he didn't leave fast enough, they asked him "Why are you still here?" He responded that he had to call his father to come get him because he was too distraught to drive. He doesn't know their names, badge numbers, but he knows there were two guys and a woman. Does racism still exist? This is a true story! Spread the word, don't help silence these racists. This is all I can think to do to help correct this wrong.

8 comments:

  1. Kelly,

    I'd like to think that there's more to the story. Why didn't they get the individual's badge numbers. Did they have something to hide? It's enough to make me hate cops. But then I'd be doing the same thing that the cops "might" have done - paint everyone in a group with the same brush? Did I say that right?

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  2. Wow! I think you answered your own question. Racism does exisit and it continues to get stronger.

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  3. Wow that is horrible! Unfortunately I do believe racism still does exist. I've heard several stories from people who say they have encountered situations with police officers like this. It's sad how some officers abuse their power.

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  4. It is particularly disturbing when our protectors become the abusers. Does the URI grad plan to pursue this? The ACLU, someone, should WANT to seek justice and bring this to the light of day. If he knows the police group (state or city) even without individual names a good attorney should be able to get some answers. This also sounds like the type of case that The Southern Poverty Law Center handles.

    It won't be easy and it requires courage to challenge authority but I hope he does. Taking action and seeking justice may return to him some of his power, so to speak. Regardless, this event will affect him for a long time.

    And to answer your question: yes, yes, yes, unfortunately.

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  5. That is truly awful. I am saddened to think of his trauma. I can feel the helplessness even from you now! I imagine that this experience will resonate within him for some time. How does he ever feel safe in the midst of police again? After having experienced such intimidation can he go forward and seek justice, knowing how the individuals who are employed to protect and serve him behaved? Were the police in uniform? Is it naive to wonder if they were impersonating police? Were they all white? I wonder if others from URI have reported such happenings...
    Power in the wrong hands can be dangerous.. there's the injustice and suffering that Johnson wrote about.

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  6. Wow, that's just sad. It's a shame that even if you're not doing something wrong you can still be harrassed and made to look like a fool. I was driving home at about 2am the other morning on 95 and a state trooper shined his big light at me as i passed. I was driving the speed limit and had just left work. My instinct told me that if I had a couple more people in the car, he probably would have pulled me over because it would have looked like we went out partying and would be drunk. It's amazing how they the people that they see to detect wrong doing, and then jump to conclusions without the facts. Racism does still exist, as do stereotypes as well as police officers abusing their power, when most of them don't obey the laws themselves.

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  7. Kelly,

    As we talked about in class, this URI student needs to pursue justice. This was an outrageous abuse of power and the police officers need to be reprimanded for it. I hope that your friend will not come to hate all police officers and realise that this was probably an isolated incident.

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  8. Hi Kelly,

    It is just a horrible story. I related it to some city police officers (visiting for the Celtics game) who scowled and said behavior like that gives them all a black eye. They suggested that he file a complaint by both filling out a form, and informing the internal affairs office. I am assuming it was state police, and here is a link to state police citizen's complaint form. http://www.risp.ri.gov/docs/PSU/PSUCitizenComplaintFormEnglish.pdf) (I'm sorry I can't figure out how to create a link here in comments.) I don't know if he would feel comfortable taking that kind of action, and I could understand if he was hesitant, but I thought I would pass along the information.

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