Wednesday
Jan192005
Virginia Lawmaker Jeion Ward Introduces Racial Profiling Law
Wednesday, January 19, 2005 at 06:27PM
Originally published by the Daily Times on 11/19/2005 [here]
By Wil LaVeist
Del. Jeion Ward is the latest legislator to take up the baton on racial profiling in Virginia. Can she deliver when others haven't?
Ward has introduced a bill that would make police departments across the state record the race of every driver they stop. The Virginia State Police would track and analyze the hard data to determine once and for all whether Virginia has a problem with racial profiling. Other sophomore legislators from the area, Del. Mayme BaCote and Sen. Mamie Lock, are behind the bill.
Also called "driving while black," "racial profiling" refers to incidents in which an officer stops a person because of his or her skin color. It's illegal. If you've been racially profiled (it's happened to me in other states), you likely felt degraded and frustrated by the ordeal. As a black person, it's one of those burdens in life that you, unfortunately, expect to endure. After 9-11, many Arab-Americans began to understand this.
The perception and reality of racial profiling in Virginia has been debated in and around the General Assembly since at least 1997, when a federal civil rights advisory committee was studying the issue. In 2000, that 15-member Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights submitted a report saying police used racial- profiling techniques, which contributed to the "overwhelmingly disproportionate" numbers of African-Americans under criminal supervision.
Years later, we're still asking whether racial profiling happens. Why?
"You hear it all the time," Ward said at a news conference that she conduct to push her bill. "We can't just keep going on like this. Either, yes, we have a problem, let's do something about it, or no, it really is just random."
Right. Sounds logical, but it's also the reasoning that state Sen. Henry Maxwell, D-Newport News, had in 2000 when he introduced a similar bill, which didn't pass.
Foes of Maxwell's bill said it would be too costly to have officers record the race, gender, ethnicity and age of motorists they stopped. A survey done by the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Virginia Sheriff's Association bolstered that mind-set. The questionnaire, which not all police departments answered, found no pattern of racial profiling.
But what else would you expect the findings to be from an internal police survey based on inconsistent data? It would be like expecting Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld to issue a thorough, unbiased, critical report of his department's handling of the war in Iraq.
Nonetheless, the report gave enough legilsators, who would rather not know the truth on racial profiling, enough ammunition to dump Maxwell's bill.
Without data on race, it's impossible to get to the bottom of the issue. In light of 9-11 and concerns about lost civil liberties, knowing the motorists' race would help track injustices, as well as prove and protect the majority of honest police officers and troopers out there. California collects the information. So does Maryland.
But the response by the majority of Virginia's legislators has been typical of those who haven't endured racial profiling and can't reprogram their minds to care to realize that it's possible. Their solution: Form another committee. Call for more diversity training.
Ward and BaCote were asked in December by the Virginia Organizing Project to meet with the group and to support the measure. Del. Tom Gear, R-Hampton, was also invited but was a no-show. I attended the meeting. Members talked about their experiences. Some talked about having to teach their children how to behave when pulled over. Racial profiling is real.
Visiting with Ward and BaCote during the opening session of the General Assembly, I got the sense from them that the second-term legislators want to deliver on some truly meaningful legislation.
Ward said she felt more comfortable the second time around.
BaCote was like a worker bee in her office, organizing bills.
In an earlier conversation in Hampton, Locke revealed a plan to introduce legislation to study the effect that Virginia's method of financing public education had on children of poorer districts.
This is all great, but what they all must do is deliver something meaningful for their constituents, particularly the black community.
Because of the history of racism and disenfranchisement, this is a mission that all black politicians must embrace, even if it means speaking out and introducing unpopular legislation. Racial profiling would be a great one to deliver on.
By Wil LaVeist
Del. Jeion Ward is the latest legislator to take up the baton on racial profiling in Virginia. Can she deliver when others haven't?
Ward has introduced a bill that would make police departments across the state record the race of every driver they stop. The Virginia State Police would track and analyze the hard data to determine once and for all whether Virginia has a problem with racial profiling. Other sophomore legislators from the area, Del. Mayme BaCote and Sen. Mamie Lock, are behind the bill.
Also called "driving while black," "racial profiling" refers to incidents in which an officer stops a person because of his or her skin color. It's illegal. If you've been racially profiled (it's happened to me in other states), you likely felt degraded and frustrated by the ordeal. As a black person, it's one of those burdens in life that you, unfortunately, expect to endure. After 9-11, many Arab-Americans began to understand this.
The perception and reality of racial profiling in Virginia has been debated in and around the General Assembly since at least 1997, when a federal civil rights advisory committee was studying the issue. In 2000, that 15-member Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights submitted a report saying police used racial- profiling techniques, which contributed to the "overwhelmingly disproportionate" numbers of African-Americans under criminal supervision.
Years later, we're still asking whether racial profiling happens. Why?
"You hear it all the time," Ward said at a news conference that she conduct to push her bill. "We can't just keep going on like this. Either, yes, we have a problem, let's do something about it, or no, it really is just random."
Right. Sounds logical, but it's also the reasoning that state Sen. Henry Maxwell, D-Newport News, had in 2000 when he introduced a similar bill, which didn't pass.
Foes of Maxwell's bill said it would be too costly to have officers record the race, gender, ethnicity and age of motorists they stopped. A survey done by the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Virginia Sheriff's Association bolstered that mind-set. The questionnaire, which not all police departments answered, found no pattern of racial profiling.
But what else would you expect the findings to be from an internal police survey based on inconsistent data? It would be like expecting Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld to issue a thorough, unbiased, critical report of his department's handling of the war in Iraq.
Nonetheless, the report gave enough legilsators, who would rather not know the truth on racial profiling, enough ammunition to dump Maxwell's bill.
Without data on race, it's impossible to get to the bottom of the issue. In light of 9-11 and concerns about lost civil liberties, knowing the motorists' race would help track injustices, as well as prove and protect the majority of honest police officers and troopers out there. California collects the information. So does Maryland.
But the response by the majority of Virginia's legislators has been typical of those who haven't endured racial profiling and can't reprogram their minds to care to realize that it's possible. Their solution: Form another committee. Call for more diversity training.
Ward and BaCote were asked in December by the Virginia Organizing Project to meet with the group and to support the measure. Del. Tom Gear, R-Hampton, was also invited but was a no-show. I attended the meeting. Members talked about their experiences. Some talked about having to teach their children how to behave when pulled over. Racial profiling is real.
Visiting with Ward and BaCote during the opening session of the General Assembly, I got the sense from them that the second-term legislators want to deliver on some truly meaningful legislation.
Ward said she felt more comfortable the second time around.
BaCote was like a worker bee in her office, organizing bills.
In an earlier conversation in Hampton, Locke revealed a plan to introduce legislation to study the effect that Virginia's method of financing public education had on children of poorer districts.
This is all great, but what they all must do is deliver something meaningful for their constituents, particularly the black community.
Because of the history of racism and disenfranchisement, this is a mission that all black politicians must embrace, even if it means speaking out and introducing unpopular legislation. Racial profiling would be a great one to deliver on.