Race and racism

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TED KOPPEL Aaron Campbell went on trial today facing five counts of battery and resisting arrest. We first met Major Campbell during a small town meeting we conducted in Florida on the problems confronting black police officers. Major Campbell is a ranking black officer in the metro Dade County Police Department. What struck us back then was what a quiet, thoughtful man he is. So when, a few months later, we read on one of the wire services that Major Campbell had been arrested during what seemed like a routine traffic stop, our initial reaction was clearly influenced by knowing and liking Aaron Campbell. Without having any of the facts, our first assumption was that this was clearly race related -- arresting officer white, suspect, black. Then we saw some of this video, which was taken by a camera in the arresting officer’s cruiser. Major Campbell’s language and attitude were, to put it mildly, intemperate. (from police videotape)

AARON CAMPBELL You’re a f___ing liar. You’re a f____ing liar, man. I gave a signal. I gave a left turn. When I went around that truck, I saw you guys sitting. Why would I violate while I see you guys sitting there? Give me my f___ing license, bitch! You ain’t giving me no f____ing ticket.

AARON CAMPBELL Call your supervisor, bitch. I want to see your supervisor. So you—I ain’t taking no f___ing ticket from you, boy.

AARON CAMPBELL You better call your supervisor, bitch, because you ain’t giving me the ticket. I did not violate no f___ing law.

TED KOPPEL Was it, in the final analysis, necessary for the arresting officers to use force in subduing a man who had identified himself as a senior law enforcement officer? Maybe not. But there was certainly provocation. What it later developed that so outraged Aaron Campbell was his belief that he had been stopped not because of any genuine traffic violation, but because of something called racial profiling, examples of which occur on highways all over this country every day. Nightline correspondent Michel McQueen explains.

ROBERT WILKINS I was coming back to Washington from Chicago from my grandfather’s funeral and I was with my cousin, my aunt and uncle and we were stopped by the Maryland State Police. But instead of just writing us a ticket and letting us go, the trooper insisted on searching our car for drugs.

MICHEL MCQUEEN, ABC NEWS Robert Wilkins was furious. But he didn’t just go home and fume about it. An experienced public defender, a graduate of Harvard Law School, he sued.

ROBERT WILKINS We found that they basically had a policy of stopping and searching African—Americans in rental cars along that stretch of the highway and we fit the description of this policy, this profile that they had.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) He thinks he was stopped, in other words, not because of anything he did but because of the color of his skin, something African—Americans talk about so often there is a euphemism for it—- DWB, driving while black.

RANDALL KENNEDY, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL I think with respect to policing and race, we have a long history in this country where we associate a color, especially blackness, with criminality.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Randall Kennedy is the author of “Race, Crime and the Law.”

RANDALL KENNEDY The courts have permitted routine profiling that takes race into account. In my view, I think that the courts are wrong. This is an area of American life in which public authorities take race into account without a sufficient justification.

COLONEL DAVID MITCHELL I couldn’t agree more. It is wrong and it’s unlawful. You cannot use race as a basis, in and of itself, without any other consideration whatsoever for an arrest.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Colonel David Mitchell, head of the Maryland State Police, says there is a practical reason not to rely on racial profiles—it’s not effective.

COLONEL DAVID MITCHELL There is no real specific profile for a drug courier. It can be any person of any gender, of any race, of any age.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) What practical purpose was served by stopping Charles and Etta Carter for three and a half hours?

CHARLES CARTER The officer said he stopped me because I was wobbling. Fortieth anniversary and stopped by the Maryland State Police, sitting out on the highway because they feel that you got drugs. You never forget that. You’ll carry it to your grave.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Just as with Robert Wilkins, the troopers took a drug sniffing dog through the Carters’ van and then, claiming the dog signaled drugs were present, they went through all the Carters’ belongings, even their daughter’s wedding gown. What started it all? The troopers told the Carters they seemed nervous.

CHARLES CARTER And he said well what’s the problem? I said well, I’m upset over the fact that you stopped me and I don’t know what you stopped me for.

ETTA CARTER I hated what they were doing, sitting on that embankment, seeing all our things spread along the highway—the invitations, the refrigerator, the table, the freezer, the clothes, everything. You can’t, you can’t describe what we really went through.

CHARLES CARTER They continued to search and continued to search. At one point my wife asked if she could relieve herself and they said no, you can’t relieve yourself. The second officer said this. And if you don’t sit down, we’re going to handcuff you. So consequently my wife had to relieve herself a little bit out there on the ground because there was nothing we could do about it.

REP JOHN CONYERS In real life, the list of who gets stopped is incredible. I mean your economic status, your education, your wealth, your fame has nothing to do with it. Color will get you in trouble.

CHRISTOPHER DARDEN I obtained my driver’s license in 1972 and I’ve been stopped by the police every year since then.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Christopher Darden is best known as one of the prosecutors in the OJ Simpson murder case. (interviewing) How often would you say you’ve been stopped by the police?

CHRISTOPHER DARDEN As many as five times in one year and typically once or twice a year.

CHRISTOPHER DARDEN I imagine that in the minds of some police officers I fit a, the profile of someone that they believe might be involved in criminal activity.

MICHEL MCQUEEN It can be inconvenient to be stopped but, you know, why is this a big deal?

RANDALL KENNEDY The big deal is that I am a taxpaying, good doing, respectable, respectful American citizen and I don’t want anything more or anything less than the equal protection of the law that is accorded, that is given to my white neighbor.

CHRISTOPHER DARDEN The fact of the matter is that certainly we have to balance society’s interests in fighting the drug problem against the rights of the individual to be safe and unbothered and not to be bothered by the police. But the scale is tipped totally in favor of the police and totally in favor of suspending the rights of those of us who supposedly fit the profile. It’s unfair and it’s wrong.

MICHEL MCQUEEN So there are those who would say if you know you’re not carrying any drugs, what’s the problem?

ROBERT WILKINS The bottom line is is that nobody should have to be subjected to that based on some hunch or some misguided policy or worse yet a racially discriminatory policy that’s set up by the police. I’m not going to subject myself to that.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) But the Maryland State Police chief insists there is no such policy. (Interviewing) The argument is that it is being used even if it’s wrong and that people just lie about it.

COLONEL DAVID MITCHELL Well, I can appreciate that. The facts don’t bear out that argument here in the state of Maryland.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Or do they? As a result of his lawsuit, Robert Wilkins obtained a confidential state police memo. It said, “The dealers and couriers are predominantly black males and black females.” The author later said in a deposition he was referring only to a specific gang. (on camera) The state police paid Wilkins and the other passengers to settle the case without admitting any wrongdoing. But as part of the settlement, the police also agreed to keep statistics for 21 months on who they stopped and why. The state police say the numbers prove there is no racial profile. On the stretch of the interstate most under scrutiny for drug trafficking, about 36,000 motorists were stopped during the survey period and only a tiny fraction, about 150, were asked to consent to searches. Of those, about 50 motorists were carrying drugs or guns, enough to show the searches were justified, police say.

COLONEL DAVID MITCHELL Each case is constitutionally tested if we make an arrest. Should we not make an arrest, each and every violator or person that’s contacted by a Maryland state trooper has the opportunity to make a complaint.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) And increasingly, motorists are complaining. The Carters, who got a traffic ticket but were not carrying any drugs also filed a lawsuit against the state police and they also won a settlement. And Robert Wilkins has asked the court to continue to monitor the Maryland State Police for another year. But police critics say the numbers the state has already collected paint a disturbing picture of biased law enforcement. While twice as many whites were stopped on the highway as blacks, more blacks were subjected to searches even though the likelihood that they were carrying contraband proved virtually the same.

COLONEL DAVID MITCHELL I don’t have an explanation for that except to say that you have to take each case on its own merits.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) But to law abiding African—Americans who were stopped while doing not but going about their business, those facts are cold comfort.

CHARLES CARTER He had the nerve to tell me that the reason why they probably didn’t let her go relieve herself is because they were afraid we were going to try to escape. And right away in my mind I said to myself can you imagine two black seniors running down 95 with three white cops and a dog?

ROBERT WILKINS Why is it that even though, you know, I do my best and I try hard and that I go to law school and I graduate that I’m still treated as a criminal suspect?

COLONEL DAVID MITCHELL And we in the Maryland State Police have been very sensitive to that allegation which he brought to the forefront and we commend him for. That’s not to say that each and every of our 1,600 troopers is perfect. That is to say that we’re human and that we do the best job we can.

TED KOPPEL In a moment, a mother and her two children just completing a Disney World vacation stopped by the police. Part two of Michel McQueen’s report, when we come back.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Dr Elmo Randolph is a successful dentist, so successful he can afford a top—of—the—line BMW. But the car comes with a cost that has nothing to do with the sticker price.

ELMO RANDOLPH I’ve been pulled over dozens and dozens of times on the New Jersey Turnpike and never, ever once have I ever been issued one summons on the New Jersey Turnpike. And that’s after my car had been searched and stopped and sat for 10 minutes, five minutes, 20 minutes at a time, opened my trunk.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) But even though he thinks the searches are degrading and unfair, not to mention a waste of time, he never refuses.

ELMO RANDOLPH You know that if you don’t do it, you’re going to be there for a long time.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (on camera) It is a catch—22—submit to a search you consider racist and feel humiliated. Refuse, maybe cite the Bill of Rights, and feel retaliation. It’s a dilemma that many African—Americans and Hispanics say they consider every time they get behind the wheel. (VO) And while it may sound paranoid to white Americans, many minorities say they are also keenly aware of the number of supposedly routine traffic stops that have ended in tragedy, like the Rodney King beating and less well known examples like Johnny Gammage (ph), who died from suffocation after being stopped by police. Gammage, the cousin of an NFL player, had been driving his cousin’s Jaguar. He had been pulled over for tapping his brakes. Two police officers are expected to be tried for the third time in connection with the death later this year. Perhaps because of such cases, the number of complaints by blacks and Hispanics that they are unfairly targeted by police for traffic stops is rising, second only to brutality complaints filed with the Justice Department. In January of this year, the Volutia County (ph), Florida sheriff’s office settled a lawsuit brought by two different drivers, one black and one Hispanic, who say they were stopped, searched and in one case had money confiscated because of racial profiling. Neither driver was charged with any crime. (from police videotape)

POLICE OFFICER Are you carrying any illegal narcotics, illegal firearms or contraband that’s illegal?

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Six years ago, the same county came under fire after a survey showed that 70 percent of motorists stopped there were minorities. And “The Orlando Sentinel” reported last year that in neighboring Orange County, Florida, black drivers were only 16 percent of motorists stopped on the Florida turnpike but more than half of those who were subjected to searches. (from police videotape)

AARON CAMPBELL Now, you better not touch me, man. You better not f___ing touch me. You call your supervisor. I want to see your supervisor.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) A fact Aaron Campbell is expected to cite some time this week during his trial in connection with this traffic stop. He believes he was stopped on the way to his vacation home because he fit a racially biased profile used by a drug interdiction team.

bsp; MARION GASTON ROSS (PH) I don’t want to go back to Florida. I don’t want to go back there. I don’t want to give them another dime of my money.

MARION GASTON ROSS Went on the Big Red Boat for three days. I came back, went to Disney World and the Epcott Center, the Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) In April, 1995, she took her mother and two children on a dream vacation to Florida. They were a mile from the freeway the day before they were go to home.

MARION GASTON ROSS And so he pulls me over but when he pulls me over onto a dirt part of the turnpike, there’s four other cars that stopped along with him. And I’m thinking, you know, what could I possibly have done?

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) The sheriff said she was speeding—66 miles an hour. A spokesman later told her she seemed unusually nervous and vague about her itinerary.

MARION GASTON ROSS I think he could have just asked us some questions and literally asked us, oh, you have your AAA packet here. Let me see. Where have you been? What have you been doing? If he would have just seen that, he would have known in less than five minutes why we were there.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) Her car and all of her family’s belongings were searched by the side of the road. (interviewing) So how did you feel standing there on the side of the road like that with these people going through your stuff?

MARION GASTON ROSS Humiliated. Humiliated and inside I was just so upset. I was so angry but I knew that I couldn’t do anything because anything could happen. These men have control. They could take me, you know, over into those bushes, you know, rape me, slap me around, beat me up.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) And while that may sound like an overreaction, most of the African—Americans we’ve talked to said that is a common feeling.

CHRISTOPHER DARDEN If the police stop you for no apparent reason at all, you know, what’s to stop them from doing something to you physically, physically harming you for no reason at all?

REP JOHN CONYERS People that get selected out unfairly like this because of race end up distrusting the government. You don’t just distrust a cop that stopped you, this becomes systemic.

RANDALL KENNEDY People of color know that they go around with an invisible question mark hanging over their heads all the time and this creates a tremendous feeling of resentment.

MICHEL MCQUEEN (VO) A resentment that may be part of a vicious cycle of distrust and anger that sometimes explodes, but more often just lingers—one of the enduring scars of the racial divide. (interviewing) So you’re suspicious now in a way that you weren’t before?

MARION GASTON ROSS Oh yeah, oh, and my children are too. Like if we’re driving on the freeway and they see, you know, highway patrol or a police officer they go, “Mom, Mom, OK, be careful, be careful.”

TED KOPPEL And joining us now, Michel McQueen. I can see how the audience might be a little bit confused. Is it legal, is it not legal, profiling?

MICHEL MCQUEEN The courts have given police tremendous latitude in who they’re allowed to stop and why. So the short answer is yes, pretty much.

MICHEL MCQUEEN Yes, that’s true. The police are not allowed to use race as an overwhelming factor in who they decide to stop, search and arrest and so forth, and clearly the courts have felt that the police have sometimes crossed the line because people have successfully sued in connection with racial profiling.

TED KOPPEL Is it possible to identify that line? I mean if I said to you right now Michel, tell everyone out there watching tonight what the line is and if the police cross it, they’ve broken the law.

MICHEL MCQUEEN Well, here’s an example that one police officer in Florida gave me. He said if you’ve seen somebody coming out of an office building late at night in an office building that’s normally closed up, you have reasonable suspicion that that person shouldn’t be there and you should investigate further. But you shouldn’t be stopping black people coming out of an office building out of some preconception that black people don’t belong there. That’s the difference—over relying on race as a determining factor as opposed to behavior.

TED KOPPEL Tonight’s program has overwhelming focused on the problems that victims of racial profiling have experienced. There is another side to the story and we’re going to get into some of that tomorrow night, but I’d like you to give me a sense of what the case is for the police.

MICHEL MCQUEEN The police would like us to know that they think they’ve been given a very difficult job and don’t have that many tools to address that job. Mainly, they—the highways are very important in moving drugs across the country and we’ve asked them to do something about this problem. And from their perspective, lots of people could be involved in this kind of behavior and they’re trying to do something about it and they’d like the public to know what they’re up against out there.

TED KOPPEL But we don’t really have the numbers, do we? I mean national numbers do not exist?

MICHEL MCQUEEN I know, I find it remarkable that in a country that likes to measure so many things we really don’t have good national statistics on this issue. But in the states that have had some reason to address this problem the numbers are very interesting and they say that even though blacks and Hispanics are no more likely to be stopped by the police than white motorists are, they are overwhelming likely to be searched.

TED KOPPEL One more point I would like you to make very quickly tonight and that is that in fact some of those who are crying the loudest for help from the police are, in fact, members of the black community.

MICHEL MCQUEEN Well, that’s certainly true. But the question is whether people who have not done anything wrong, who don’t believe that they have done anything to cause suspicion to fall upon themselves, should be subjected to behavior that can be very humiliating and that’s the question. Lots of things are legal. The question is is it right? Is it socially constructive? Does it meet our broader goals for social justice? And that’s the question.

TED KOPPEL On that note, thank you, Michel McQueen. We’ll see you again tomorrow night. I’ll be back with a program note in a moment.