Snow-filed.

So there is this tony little area just outside of Philly called Lower Marion. It's where Kobe Bryant played his high school ball, and it is the start of what is known around here as the Main Line. Which, around these parts, is the zip- code with the most dollars.

Anyway, as is always the case with these types of communities, a Negro sighting can quickly send the local police into action.

"Lower Merion's median income is $115,226, and the township of 58,000 is 85 percent white. Saldana, who grew up in the township, is Hispanic; her family hails from Peru. Her work as a translator takes her into constant contact with minority communities, and she thought she should make the incident public after her 10-year-old son's reaction to seeing the shovelers sitting in the snow.

"My son asked me, 'Are they in trouble? Did they do something wrong?' And I didn't know how to answer him," said Saldana, 49. "That question from him really left me perplexed."

The description she posted to the Lower Merion Community Network forum on Facebook prompted outrage, with more than 600 people commenting, many concerned about the incident's racial overtones.

The other shovelers questioned by police were also black, Walsh said.

Race had nothing to do with police conduct, Walsh said, and enforcing the ordinance, which requires any adult conducting door-to-door solicitation to obtain a permit, is commonplace. In the last year, police conducted 140 such stops, he said.

"There's a really good reason for that, because, business or not," he said. "Residents can be assured Lower Merion police have checked them." [Source]

I am not sure how many of you reading this live on the East Coast. But there is a long standing tradition here of folks going door to door and offering to shovel your snow after a big storm for a small price.

For those of you who don't think that racism and "color arousal" issues still persists in America, ask yourselves this question: Do you think if those folks going around and offering to shovel snow were from the majority population, they would have been held and told to sit in the snow, while the Gestapo police stood over them and checked them out?

If you do, I have a wonderful antique bell here in Philly with a slight crack on the side that I would love to sell you.

But I want to be fair, so I will give you the response from my friends in Lower Marion, Township.

"A woman who witnessed police interacting with two men her father hired to shovel snow Tuesday worried they were questioned because of their skin color."

No mam. The police have an explanation for what you saw.

"Anti-solicitation ordinances like Lower Merion's are common and cops say they are a useful tool.

The 1964 ordinance, most recently amended in 2009, restricts "sale of goods, wares or merchandise," including magazines, home repair devices and services and contributions to some groups. When the ordinance was written, door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesmen and magazine peddlers were common irritants.

The ordinance does not apply to teenagers or to religious, political or nonprofit groups. Anyone trying to make money by knocking on doors must acquire a permit, valid through a calendar year.
There are 18 approved permits in Lower Merion, said Mike McGrath, police superintendent.

"As far as profiling that's a bogus argument," said John Norris, police chief in Cheltenham Township, which has a similar ordinance. "It's all about public safety."

It helps protect people from criminals who pose as solicitors to case out burglary targets.
Legal experts agree the law serves a purpose.

"You also have to realize there is a history of fraud and other criminal activity associated with door to door salesmen," said Mary Catherine Roper, senior attorney with the Pennsylvania ACLU.
Police noted anti-solicitation ordinances are popular with the public.

Several lawyers, though, believed Lower Merion police may have stretched the ordinance beyond its intent. Jeff Garton, who served as town solicitor in several Bucks County municipalities, said such ordinances aren't typically designed to apply to services like snow shoveling.

Mark Portella, a Haddon Heights, NJ, attorney who represents clients accused of violating municipal law, said it was unfair to conclude police were profiling, but asked why the men were approached even though cops had received no complaints.

"It causes me some concern," he said. "They're just canvassing the neighborhood and they're going to ask them a question?"

The witness, Deborah Saldana, said police questioned the shovelers as they shoveled. Police say officers witnessed them soliciting. A picture posted by Saldana showed the two shovelers sitting in the snow while talking to police, but a township spokesman said the interaction was cordial.

Police do not need a justification to engage in a conversation with people. McGrath noted the shovelers were not detained and were free to refuse to talk with officers." [Source]

Did I mention that the bell I would like to sell you has some great historical value?

DWHABP.

*

The incident I am going to blog about actually happened on Monday, but I told the other person involved that I was going to blog about it, so here goes.

I play tennis once a week with some very well to do guys in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania (the Main Line for those of you from the area) and invariably one of my tennis partners (this Jewish guy who will remain nameless because he reads my blog) takes me to and from the game and drops me off at the train station in Center City. (I don't drive on the Main Line if I can help it)

So Monday, after the game, we are driving back to Center City on 676 which loops around Philly. We are in his very big Mercedes sedan (why a Jewish guy would choose to drive Mercedes I will never understand) and he keeps glancing in his rare view mirror. "What's wrong?" I ask him. "There is a state trooper driving behind us", he tells me, and it's hard to tell if the worried look on his face is real or feigned. --Dude is a lawyer so you never know--. "So"? "Well, I was wondering", he says, "Is there such a thing as driving while having a black passenger?" Now I am really looking to see if my man is serious, and I still can't tell. (Driving while having a black passenger? DWHABP.... Yeah, that's a new one) So finally, I ask him: "Are you serious?" "Well yeah, I mean, you have to admit, that the likelihood of me getting stopped is greater with you in the car." I still can't tell if he is serious or not. Finally, and probably mercifully for my man, the trooper passes us with not so much of a glance in our direction. "OK, you can relax for now" I tell him, "but remember, we still have a few miles to go." Now he is laughing his ass off, and I am wondering if he is laughing out of relief or if he thought the shit was funny all along. I am thinking it's a little bit of both.

I can't resist one last shot: "For a minute there you felt what we feel every day huh?" Now I was laughing. "Field, have you ever been stopped when you felt you were profiled?" Now he seemed genuinely curious. "A few times", I tell him, "but I survived every time. I know 'the rules.'" I am hoping that he won't ask me to elaborate, and he doesn't. It's just the same, because he will never need them.

And speaking of the po po and profiling. I can't let tonight go without commenting on the beat down an *80 year old woman took in Ohio the other day. Quite a few folks sent me e-mails with the link and wanted to know what I thought about it.

Anyway, rather than give my opinion, I will let you view the tape and tell me what you think:

Good policing? Just an angry old black woman who doesn't know how to respect authority? Or policemen (or in this case police woman) gone wild with no respect for people of color.

I viewed the tape over and over, because I don't want to be a knee jerk racism chaser......*smirking*, and the question I keep asking myself is this: Would that police officer have acted the same way if that woman looked like her?

*Pic courtesy of the Globalgrind.com

Excuse me sir, may I see your ID?

Let's take a good look at the brother in this picture. His name is King Downing, and he is the National Coordinator of the ACLU's Campaign Against Racism.

It seems King was trying to get on a plane at Boston's Logan Airport and was profiled in a way usually saved for those of our A-merry-can brothers of Arab decent. Now go on and say it, because I know you all are thinking it: This is the type of treatment that only the light skinned field Negroes among us have been getting lately. Dark brothers like yours truly have been getting a pass at the metal detectors at our nation's airports.---Driving is still a bitch, but flying has been pretty cool. Now for you brothers like Chris....I don't know. I have a friend from Jamaica (I will call him Fred again). And I have blogged about him before. Fred is Indian (or as we call him on the rock, a "coolie mon") and he has been catching hell post 911 because he looks just like one of those Egyptian mother fuckers who wanted to play demolition derby with a plane and some A-merry-can buildings.

So anyway, my man King is now suing the folks at Logan because of the screening technique that they use. They claim that the shit is based on your behavior; but you, me, and Stevie Wonder can see that it's based on your profile. So of all people, these idiots choose an ACLU attorney to fuck with. I bet they thought that the poor brother was Middle Eastern.

How tough is it in A-merry-ca these days, when even a light skin brother can't catch a break?

Doesn't it just make you wish for the good old days?

PROTECT AND SERVE?

The story below is troubling. Not because it's yet another story about racism in A-merry-ca, *yawn* but because the allegations of racism were leveled at a Police Chief of a fairly large town. And even more troubling , the charges are being made by some of his own officers.

This is a complaint in a lawsuit, so take it for what it's worth. Still, I can't help but read it and think about all those township cops and state troopers in Jersey, and the accusations of profiling in the past. I have been stopped in the garden state a couple of times myself, and fortunately, I had all my shit together, so I didn't end up in the back of a squad car with some racist cop. Remember this story, and others like it about racial profiling along the Jersey Turnpike? Well, it's why I worry when I read stories like this.

But if any of these allegations are true, Chief Carmen LaBruno should not be leading a city police department in New Jersey--- or in Mississippi for that matter. And if you think Chief LaBruno is alone; I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you.

So here is the story from the AP:

Five Hoboken police officers are accusing one of their superiors of being an "unabashed white supremacist" who routinely used racial slurs and, during a trip to Louisiana as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, donned a mock Ku Klux Klan hood and uttered the "n-word" within earshot of an African-American couple in a restaurant.

In a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Newark, the plaintiffs - five Hispanic members of the department - say Lt. Angelo Andriani intimidated them with his racist behavior.
Andriani, the plaintiffs allege, would often express disapproval of interracial couples, calling white women who dated black men "pigs."

Among the bombshells in the lawsuit is the allegation that during a trip to deliver relief supplies to Kenner, La., in November 2005, Andriani used racial slurs at a restaurant while the Hoboken contingent was dining with a Kenner city councilwoman.
During that meal, the suit contends, while an African-American couple sat nearby, Andriani used the n-word and cut two holes out of a napkin, which he put in front of his face to make it look like a KKK hood.

The officers suing are detectives Mario Novo, George Fonseca, James Perez, Cesar Olavaria, and Sgt. Edwin Pantoja.

My only question would be what took them so long to bring the lawsuit in the first place? Still, I wish them luck with it. Although sadly, given the history of these types of complaints, they will need it.