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#racial profiling
alwaysbewoke · 13 days
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allthecanadianpolitics · 11 months
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A Montreal resident who was captured in a viral video last fall showing him in handcuffs while trying to enter his own vehicle is suing the police for $125,000.
The online video showed part of the police intervention when the two arresting officers couldn't find the keys to the handcuffs so that they could release the innocent man, Brice Dossa.
Dossa, who is Black, filed a civil lawsuit in Superior Court on Tuesday, alleging the two arresting officers abused their authority, had no information to suggest Dossa's Honda CRV SUV was stolen or that he was not the owner, and that they "engaged in racial profiling."
"Based on Mr. Dossa's race and skin colour, they assumed that he was a thief, without doing any verification to confirm their intuition," reads part of the allegations in the document. [...]
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Tagging: @politicsofcanada
Note from the poster @el-shab-hussein: Members of my family have personally been witness to this tactic being used at the location this happened to this man in. This is not just accidental. This is routine racial profiling taking place in a community known to have a large Black population. This is deliberate arrest of Black folks on no basis. Do not let them pretend this is an accident or a mistake.
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accras · 2 months
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A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community.
When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.
But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say Parksley Town Council member Henry Nicholson cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”
“When we first opened, there were a lot of people” ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then … they started harassing us.”
A federal lawsuit claims the town passed a food truck ban that targeted the couple, then threatened them with fines and imprisonment when they raised concerns. They’re being represented by the Institute for Justice, a law firm that described a “string of abuses” in the historic railroad town of about 800 people.
“If Theslet and Clemene were not of Haitian descent, Parksley’s town government would not have engaged in this abusive conduct,” the lawsuit states.
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reasoningdaily · 7 months
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A Black couple have sued the city of Beverly Hills, alleging their arrest was part of a campaign by its police to arrest Black people for trivial reasons and at disproportionate rates.
The couple’s lawyers, Bradley Gage and Benjamin Crump, said the Beverly Hills police last year set up a task force — dubbed Operation Safe Streets and the Rodeo Drive Task Force — that arrested 106 people, 105 of whom were Black and one of whom was Latino. Gage said the sources of the arrest figures were unidentified retired Beverly Hills police officers who were appalled by the task force’s actions and so shared with him the alleged racial breakdown of who had been arrested.
The impetus for the task force, Gage said, was both the protests over the death of George Floyd and what Beverly Hills police believed were transactions at retail stores using suspected proceeds of unemployment benefit fraud. Gage described the Police Department’s approach to rooting out suspected fraud as, “Gee, that’s suspicious — Black people shopping in Beverly Hills.”
Gage and Crump, who has represented the families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others killed by police, raised their allegations Wednesday on the steps of Beverly Hills City Hall. “There is something terribly wrong here,” Gage said, citing what he called the city’s legacy of biased policing.
Gage and Crump are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The only named plaintiffs are the couple, who were arrested on suspicion of riding scooters on a sidewalk and resisting arrest; it does not appear that Gage or Crump has identified the 104 other people who they contend were arrested.
In a statement, Police Chief Dominick Rivetti said his department created a “Rodeo Drive Team” in response to complaints by businesses and a rise in burglaries, shoplifting, “street gambling, public intoxication, marijuana smoking and more.” The team seized 13 firearms carried by people on Rodeo Drive, said Rivetti, who called this “unprecedented in the history of Beverly Hills.”
Rivetti said the Rodeo Drive unit rooted out fraudulently obtained state unemployment benefits, seizing $250,000 in cash and ill-gotten debit cards. Most of the people arrested by the unit were not California residents, Rivetti said, but they nonetheless possessed debit cards loaded with state funds.
The Times asked the Beverly Hills police for a total number and breakdown by race of the people arrested by the Rodeo Drive unit. Capt. Max Subin, a department spokesman, said officials were gathering the figures Wednesday and would provide them once they had finished.
Gage and Crump on Wednesday highlighted the experience of the Black couple, Khalil White and Jasmine Williams of Philadelphia, who said they were visiting Beverly Hills on vacation in September when they were stopped, arrested and eventually jailed by police.
As five officers handcuffed White, Williams said, she asked an officer for her purse to retrieve their hotel key. Two officers pushed her to a police car, handcuffed her and took her to jail, she said.
“I was scared,” Williams said. “I’ve never been to jail in my life.”
White, who said he was jailed overnight and forced to post a $25,000 bond, was charged in Los Angeles County Superior Court with resisting arrest and falsely identifying himself to police. Williams was charged with falsely identifying herself to police. The charges were dismissed in February, records show.
Crump and Gage alleged that White and Williams’ arrests were part of a campaign to target Black people in the city through its recently formed task force.
The Beverly Hills police “had made up their mind that this Black man was going to jail because this is Operation Safe Streets,” Crump said.
In his statement, Rivetti said police had warned White and Williams earlier the day of their arrest that it was illegal to ride a scooter on the sidewalk, without taking action against the couple. In their second encounter with police, White and Williams provided officers with false information, Rivetti said.
“Our department’s practice is to contact and question individuals when we believe they may be involved in criminal activity or another violation of the law,” he said.
Beverly Hills officials faced criticism last summer for insisting on charging protesters with misdemeanor curfew violations; by comparison, prosecutors for the city and county of Los Angeles declined to charge similarly minor violations of curfews and dispersal orders.
In a summary of the Beverly Hills protests, a police sergeant wrote that for residents who survived the Holocaust and Iranian revolution, the demonstrations over Floyd’s death were “not merely an intrusion of their peace” but “a terrifying reminder of their past.”
The department’s previous chief, Sandra Spagnoli, retired in 2020, beset by allegations that she made racist comments and had sex with subordinates who were later promoted. Spagnoli denied the claims, which she said were raised by disgruntled employees, but the city paid out millions of dollars to settle many of the lawsuits. Gage, who represented several officers who sued Spagnoli, estimated at the time that the city paid about $8 million in settlements, attorney fees and other costs.
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i was stopped by a security guard earlier at walmart today because she wanted to check my receipt (i shop as local as much as i can, but it's one of the only affordable options for me to get groceries).
it came a little out of left field, but i sensed there was a reason why she was doing this. it didn't take me long to realize that she only 'asked to see my receipt' because she initially demanded to see the receipt of the Black woman in front of me. when i asked if everything was okay, the woman told me that she was questioning her as to why she was being stopped.
i'd first like to state -par Canadian law NO employee of any business has the right to stop you if they THINK you stole something -they also have NO right to search your bags or check you receipt unless they witnessed you putting something in there in the first place. it's illegal, and you have every right to refuse.
while i stood there, i watched the security guard keep escalating the situation, not the customer -all on her own. then when the guard stated that they always have people stealing and they check from time to time as her only line of defense, i could only laugh because it's just so absurd. like important side note but you work for a multi-billion dollar corporation, and even if the censors went off -employers will not protect you outside of their walls if you ever tried to run after someone if they stole right in front of you (because why the fuck do i care -am i gonna risk my life over someone taking something? absolutely no).
when i tried to tell the security guard that her actions were not warranted, there were already 2 more male security guards approaching and i was so done at that point. i told them it was excessive to have 3 guards here for one woman who was definitely racially profiled in the first place to show her receipt, but to keep her here for this was inappropriate. i also emphasized how this woman was not a threat to the security guard and that she was just defending herself.
moments later, the security guard who started it all walked away after giving a shit ton of attitude to this woman -giving out her name and saying she should go to customer service. shortly after, i told the other 2 security guards that if there was nothing else we would be leaving, and just before we left they had the audacity to say that they didn't mean to offend this woman...
i spoke with this woman for a short time before we went opposite ways to get home, but we spoke briefly about the situation. she will continue going to this store, as she told them not to stop her next time and istfg this racist bigot better leave her alone.
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odinsblog · 5 months
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8-year-old boy, pregnant mom held at gunpoint by California police over “mistaken” identity
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Sacramento police said they thought the third-grader was a suspect. The 8-year-old boy and his pregnant mother were pulled over at gunpoint by multiple Sacramento police officers on their way to football practice.
Shanice Stewart, who is nine months pregnant, and her son Brandon were stopped by police Oct. 17 on the highway, after the officers mistook Brandon for a juvenile with two felony warrants, including one for gun possession, according to Sacramento police.
“I noticed that they had guns drawn and they had instructions for me to then toss my keys out of the window,” Stewart told ABC News. “And open the door with my left hand, proceed to get out and put my hands in the air and then walk towards them. I immediately broke down because I didn't know or understand what was going on.”
Brandon got out of the vehicle afraid that his mother would be arrested or worse, according to Stewart. He screamed and pleaded for her to come back to the car. The 8-year-old, not realizing the officers thought he was the suspect, approached them frantically explaining that his mother was just taking him to football practice and hadn't done anything wrong. It was at that point that Stewart believes the officers realized that Brandon wasn't the suspect.
“I was scared of him getting shot,” Stewart said. “You don't know what to expect, especially when it's multiple officers with their guns drawn towards the car. You just you don't know. But I was definitely in fear of getting shot, me or my son. Just by one of them feeling like they were in danger or they did not feel comfortable.”
The officers released Stewart and Brandon shortly after, according to Stewart. Police told ABC News they first misidentified Brandon through helicopter surveillance, as he and his mother were leaving their home to go to football practice. Brandon matched the description of a suspect because of his hair style and clothing, according to police.
The next day a captain with the Sacramento police told Stewart the suspect they are looking for is a teenager, according to Stewart. Brandon, a third grader, is about 3’10”, 56 pounds.
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idiot-mushroom · 6 months
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me: *gets racially profiled by another student for the fifth time this week* ah maybe i should tell the school that shitty stuff is happening
me: *emails school abt shitty stuff*
school: *doesn’t do anything/doesn’t even reach out*
me: damn
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tattoorue · 2 years
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benandstevesposts · 1 month
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State Police Were Sent To Help - Beatings Followed!
SAGINAW, MI – John Haynes wasn’t having it.
The 69-year-old Saginaw handyman, who is Black, let Michigan State Police troopers know precisely how he felt when they pulled him over in his van a few years ago, according to a video of the encounter obtained by MLive.
“I have been getting stopped all damn week,” Haynes says irately after he’s placed in a patrol vehicle. “For what? You looked through my van; you didn’t find any drugs. You (are) just interrupting a good person’s life, and I’m tired of getting stopped … Is that what we’ve got to go through to live in America?”
Haynes ultimately filed a complaint and a lawsuit. His complaint is one of more than 80 filed in the last two years against the Michigan State Police in so-called “Secure Cities” like Saginaw and Flint – cities with existing police forces but not enough resources. Troopers, like those Haynes encountered, were brought in to help as part of a multi-million-dollar statewide program.
Complaints, criminal charges and lawsuits have piled up against state troopers in cities that participate in the Secure Cities Partnership, many of them racial in nature. Experts and law enforcement officials interviewed for this story said it’s the result of sending officers from an outside agency – mostly white state troopers – into predominantly Black cities, stoking existing, well-documented conflicts between Black people and white police officers.
Since the program launched in 2012, three residents have been killed in high-speed crashes and a teen died after being Tased while riding his ATV. At least six lawsuits have been filed, costing Michigan more than $27 million in payouts. And most recently in Saginaw, three white state troopers were criminally charged in two separate beatings of Black men caught on camera.
Related: Michigan State Police trooper pleads to beating handcuffed Saginaw man, agrees to stop being cop
Residents and activists have told MLive they want Michigan State Police out of their towns.
“Personally, I think it should it end,” Jeffrey Bulls, president of the Saginaw nonprofit Community Alliance for the People, said about the Secure Cities program. “If I truly believed more police equaled more safety, I would increase Saginaw police, the ones we know.”
But elected and law enforcement officials say local departments are underfunded and their cities wouldn’t be able to function without their help.
“State police is doing a great job,” Saginaw police Chief Robert M. Ruth said. “We work together as a team. The resources they provide to us are tremendous to keep citizens safe.”
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‘He was calling me ‘boy’ the whole time’
In 2022, two disturbing videos of white police officers beating Black men in Saginaw emerged. Three Michigan State Police troopers were charged in the two separate beatings – criminal cases that are still winding through the court system. Resignations and reassignments of superior officers followed.
You can visit the originating site here if you'd like to read the complete report.
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lunityviruz · 6 months
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"I am not my ancestors!!!"
*Doesn't call out their friends racism, believes in stereotypes, denies their white privilege, uses the police as a way to keep black people in line, steals from black creators then tries to rebrand it as something new, gets mad a black safe spaces, uses their white tears as a way to get black people in trouble, whitewashes the truth,and is somehow always the victim in any situation at all time.*
Just cuz you don't have a whip in your hand and aren't telling black people to get back into the fields doesn't mean you're any different from your meemaw in the 50s or your pop pop in the 1700s bitch 🤷🏾‍♂️
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politicsofcanada · 2 years
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I get really fucking livid when people try to downplay the impacts and severity of islamophobia
because of islamophobia i had a machine gun pointed at my face when I was 15 years old
because of islamophobia my family and I get roughly searched at every airport
because of islamophobia I'm afraid to visit the country my ancestors came from
because of islamophobia I've hidden my religious beliefs for most of my life
because of islamophobia (and racism) I've been racially profiled and witnessed the racial profiling of my loved ones at the hands of cops
so fuck right off with the idea that islamophobia isn't all that bad. you have no clue how bad it is.
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Winnipeg residents put the city's chief police officer in the hot seat during a discussion on policing Black communities that sometimes became heated, with the recent death of a young Nigerian student looming over the talks.
The town hall, called Policing Black Manitobans, was held in the wake of 19-year-old Afolabi Stephen Opaso's death. Opaso, a University of Manitoba student, was shot by police on Dec. 31 after officers responded to a well-being call at an apartment building.
About 70 people showed up Sunday afternoon and packed the African Communities of Manitoba's offices.
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Tagging: @politicsofcanada
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serious2020 · 2 months
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reasoningdaily · 7 months
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/03/beverly-hills-police-lawsuit/
A Beverly Hills police task force arrested 106 people. All but one were Black, lawsuit claims.
Beverly Hills Police targeted Black people with harassment and arrest for low-level or nonexistent violations in an effort to keep them away from Rodeo Drive, according to a class-action racial discrimination lawsuit filed in California Superior Court Monday by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bradley Gage.
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The complaint centers on the Beverly Hills Police Department’s “Operation Safe Streets,” a campaign to address safety on the city’s famed luxury shopping destination of Rodeo Drive.
The suit claims that between March 2020 and July 2021, the task force made 106 arrests — 105 of whom were of Black people.
“If 2 percent of the residents of Beverly Hills are Black but almost 100 percent of the arrests are Black [people,] that’s a pretty clear indication something’s wrong,” Gage told The Washington Post Thursday.
“The women and men of BHPD take an oath to protect human life and enforce the law — regardless of race,” Beverly Hills Police Chief Dominick Rivetti said in a statement Wednesday. “Any violation of this pledge is contrary to the values of this department. We take all concerns regarding the conduct of our officers very seriously.“
During a Wednesday news conference announcing the lawsuit, Crump — the attorney best-known for representing the family of George Floyd — framed the alleged racial bias in Beverly Hills as a national scourge that has led to the death or injury of people whose names are now synonymous with racially biased and violent policing.
“If implicit bias goes unchecked and discrimination goes unchecked, it leads to what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis; what happened to Breonna Taylor in Louisville; what happened to Jacob Blake Jr. in Kenosha, Wis.,” he said. “That’s what happens if the actions of the Beverly Hills Police Department goes unchecked.”
Rivetti in his Wednesday statement said he formed the “Rodeo Drive Team” to address complaints from businesses about a rise in burglary, shoplifting and nuisances such as public intoxication. Rivetti touted the success of the task force, noting that officers arrested individuals with “fraudulently obtained state unemployment benefits” and seizing $250,000 in cash and “ill-gotten debit cards.”
The police did not respond to The Post’s request for the number of arrests or their racial breakdown.
Gage said his team corroborated the figure through a variety of sources, including Beverly Hills police officers who were troubled by the trend that resulted from the 16-month safety operation.
The more than 100 arrestees were cited for a range of noncriminal behaviors such as roller skating or riding a scooter on the sidewalk to low-level infractions such as jaywalking. None of the same behaviors and infractions were enforced against White people, the lawsuit claims.
“The way [police] stop them for trivial things is troubling as well,” Gage said, alleging that Black people questioned by police would face four or five officers or have guns drawn on them. “White people don’t have that.”
The two named plaintiffs in the suit were not California residents but visiting from Philadelphia. During a visit to Beverly Hills last September, Khalil White and Jasmine Williams were arrested while riding scooters on the sidewalk and jailed for resisting arrest. The charges, like most of those that stemmed from the operation, were dropped.
The lawsuit claims that other incidents with police did not end in arrest but indicate a pattern of harassment and over-policing of Black people. Salehe Bembury, then the vice president of men’s footwear at Versace, was allegedly jaywalking and holding two shopping bags from his store last October when police stopped him, asked for his ID and ran his name for warrants.
Bembury filmed the encounter, which went viral.
“So I’m in Beverly Hills and I’m getting … searched for shopping at the store I work for and just being Black,” he said in an Instagram video.
“You’re making a completely different narrative,” a BHPD officer said in response.
The current iteration of the lawsuit focuses on the outcome of Operation Safe Streets, but Gage expects it will broaden to encompass a wider review of discriminatory policing by BHPD and expects the class of complainants to grow tenfold.
“I don’t think Ben or I have had five minutes since the press conference that we haven’t received phone calls. I’ve been getting them since midnight,” Gage said. Since Wednesday, he estimates the legal team has received at least 100 new complaints of racial profiling in traffic stops and other claims of discrimination from around the same period as Operation Safe Streets.
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