Opinion

Should "Driving while black" be a crime?

Scores of Black Britons -- including prominent athletes, Home Office officials and government workers, artists, lawyers, and business leaders -- have experienced the humiliation of being stopped on the streets of London and other British cities for no other apparent reason than being Black and driving a car.

This new "crime" mirrors the common complaint, highlighted in testimony to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, that police officers on the streets systematically target innocent young blacks for "stop and frisk" searches.

No social class among blacks is exempt from a "Driving while black" incident. Carl Josephs, a meat factory worker in Birmingham, was stopped 34 times in 2 years - without a specific charge or even a speeding ticket. He says he was singled out because he was black and drove a car.

When Tim McDonald was pulled over, his father, Trinidadian-born Trevor McDonald and Britain's best known news reader, called on police to end their habit of stopping black youths in cars.

Being pulled over for "Driving while Black" is a traumatic event. Few white motorists have the same story to tell. But, almost every Black Briton can tell you that they or someone they know have been stopped by the police without being found guilty of any violation of the law.

Black motorists more likely to be stopped than whites
DWB is a heart-stopping common occurrence for Black motorists, and only a minor nuisance to whites. According to a report in The Guardian 13 March. "Last year in the area policed by the Metropolitan Police, the rate for stop-and-searches was 37 per 1,000 among whites, 66 per 1,000 among Asians, and 180 per 1,000 among blacks". In the London area more than 36% of those stopped were from ethnic minorities, who make up about 20% of the population.

Turner art prize winner Chris Ofili's brush with the law is one example of a continuing trend, says The Guardian. Ofili, who drives a lime-green Ford Capri, and has been stopped many times, says "It's a very common occurence...They had absolutely no reason to stop me...I always carry my licence with me so they can't issue me with a "producer" (a summons to report to a police station and produce a driver's licence and car documents)."

"Racial profiling"
British examples of DWB take on a more invidious character when compared to a common practice on the State highways of America called "racial profiling". This literally means that police officers are always on the lookout for black males driving cars. The ACLU, an American civil liberties group, has won racial profiling cases in Indiana and Maryland with damages.

In California, San Diego Chargers football player Shawn Lee was pulled over, and he and his girlfriend were handcuffed and detained by the police for half an hour on the side of Interstate 15. The officer said that Lee was stopped because he was driving a vehicle that fit the description of one stolen earlier that evening. However, Lee was driving a Jeep Cherokee, a sports utility vehicle, and the reportedly stolen vehicle was a Honda sedan.

The Road to Freedom
Illegal stop-and-searches like "Driving while Black" and the use of racial profiling can be stopped, says the ACLU http://www.aclu.org. In America Rep. John Conyers, a black congressman, introduced the "Traffic Stops Statistics Act" to encourage police departments to keep detailed records of traffic stops, including the race and ethnicity of the person stopped. Here in Britain, such a law could be backed up by the Home Office and the national collection of data to determine the full scope of this problem.

Practical actions include a hotline that victims can call to report incidents involving DWB. Another is a handy printed pocket card that details the motorists' rights in race-stop encounters. Complaint forms should be readily provided by the police to drivers who feel offended by DWB or race-based traffic stops.

Ending DWB and racial profiling on the nation's streets, roads and highways should also be addressed through public education, and by leaflets in major languages made available at all local government offices, libraries and public buildings.

Finally, whether you agree or not, we invite you to post your thoughts to: editor@thechronicle.demon.co.uk