Want to know what it took to end the racial profiling in a little town near here?

[NNN0LHI]

Little town of Beecher, IL., had been famous for harassing black or brown people driving through the town. Everyone knew about it.

All white police force. Big burly guys.

One night a guy came driving through and got the standard treatment for the crime of driving while black. It was big business back then.

They beat him down and charged him with a bunch of felonies.

Turned out that the black guy they beat up and arrested was a commanding officer with the Illinois State Police and he sued the piss out of this town and had charges filed against some of the arresting officers. He won his case. Just about bankrupted the town as I recall.

I think that was about 20 years ago. They don't profile any more that I am aware of. Haven't heard any recent complaints anyway.

That is how it was done here.

Don

[undertakerlives]

1. And it comes to be.

Well done. I'd give that man a parade. Unfortunately, there will always be a bigot on every street of this nation - civil rights are an illusion.

[RKP5637]

6. So true. Bigots spring up all over this nation. Your supposed freedom and rights

are always going to be challenged by some bigot that feels they are superior to whomever, whatever. And the more sophisticated bigots will camouflage their bigotry, but it is still the same. As you say, "civil rights are an illusion."

[yellowdogintexas]

8. which is why I chose the quote line that is at the bottom of my posts

it is something my mother repeated over and over when we were growing up in the mid fifties segregated mid south.

[RandomThoughts]

2. For some reason, I really like that story.

Although it would be better if he was not harrased, and it should not take that happening to an officer, some reason, that story is a good one.

Maybe because it is about justice.

[Orsino]

4. And if folks won't stand up for justice...

...they could at least come to resent a bigoted asshole who brutalized minorities on their dime, and whose downfall cost the town so much more money.

[undertakerlives]

5. Justice?

What the hell is justice, anyway?

[RandomThoughts]

10. You know it when you feel it.

Hard to quantify, been thinking about that all night based on a comment on extortion. Since they have similiar elements, but are different.

[Orsino]

14. Justice is that state of affairs toward which fiascos like this push us. n/t

[whathehell]

13. Yes, the fact that he was able to "sue the piss" out of the town (and good on him for doing so_

tells us that civil rights may be less than solid, but they're not exactly "illusory" either.

[Fumesucker]

22. You apparently missed the part where the man was a State Patrol big wheel..

Otherwise a lawsuit would never have gone anywhere..

Moral: If you are a highly placed official you have a chance of having some civil rights, otherwise forget it.

[whathehell]

23. I didn't miss anything

and your statement is untrue...Unless you really believe that no other NON -highly placed minorities have successfully sued for violations of civil rights...They have...And this is NOT the same as saying "Everything is fine".

The very FACT that this black man could become a "highly placed official"..is the result of successfully civil rights legislation.

Obviously, there is much more to do, but, Arizona be-damned, this isn't the 1950s.

[Fumesucker]

26. We both know the lawsuit would have gone nowhere if the man were a nobody..

And it's strange that in the 50's blacks and whites were incarcerated roughly equally to their percentages in the population, today in our far more enlightened era blacks are vastly overrepresented in the prisons and jails of America.

[whathehell]

29. So you are saying there have been NO successful civil rights lawsuits

by any member of a minority unless he or she was "connected"?...I'm sorry, but that is just absolute nonsense.

[Fumesucker]

30. The situation the OP outlined went on for decades..

Until they just happened to beat on the wrong person, someone with connections and credibility.

You can ignore the facts all you want, that doesn't mean they don't exist.

[whathehell]

31. I ignore nothing

But you seem to be ignoring the the use of the past tense.

Yes, the situation "went on for decades"..but it STOPPED twenty years ago and you are still talking in the present tense, e.g, "We have no civil rights"

Point: They HAD no civil rights in that little town and that IS deplorable..but by the OP's admission, those type of violations in the town have stopped.

[hobbit709]

3. That's the only way to do it.

Little place called Selma, just north of San Antonio was notorious as a speed trap. Going one mile over the limit would get you a ticket.
Then one night the police chief led the San Antinio cops on a chase before finally being coralled. He was charged with DWI, evading the police and resisting arrest. He was driving the Selma police cruiser at the time.
It's still somewhat of a speed trap but now you really have to be speeding to get stopped.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Years ago the Port Authority cops at Newark Airport took a page..

from the state cops and started profiling cars dropping off people at the airport.

Black guy in out-of state new Cadillac-- perfect, except he looked a little old to be a drug dealer.

But, he wouldn't open the trunk when asked. So, they carted him off to their little jail.

During the questioning, processing, or whatever they were doing down there, they found his ID as a Federal distict judge fom Georgia.

Oops!

[hobbit709]

9. OOH!

As a lawyer buddy of mine says. "Federal judges have the power of God over you"

[WolverineDG]

28. Federal Judges think they ARE God

and you'd best not ever forget that. :)

dg

[Selatius]

11. The sad part is the townspeople looked the other way, until they were nearly bankrupted by the wrong

Funny how when money gets involved, bigotry flies out the window. It's all straight business then and there, personal bigotries and beliefs be damned. Greed speaks louder than hate, and you can bet those townspeople will be claiming to be champions of civil rights along with the best of them if it came down to the threat of a potentially bankrupting lawsuit vs. tolerating or even accepting bigotry and profiling.

[NNN0LHI]

12. The townspeople didn't look the other way. They were all for encouraging more of it

Until the hammer came down anyway.

Don

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. True, it takes someone to stand up to the abuse, get a lawyer, post on internet

Thank goodness for the internet

[tritsofme]

16. Even today that entire town is little more than a speed trap.

Either I hadn't heard or had forgotten this story, but it doesn't surprise me.

[morningglory]

17. A friend of mine, a white lawyer, was following his white wife home from

a party where they had driven in separate cars. The cops pulled his wife over. In Louisiana where cops can be very corrupt, he pulled over and walked up to the cops and asked what was going on. The cops knocked him down and started beating him. With ever blow he counted, "1 million, 2 million, 3 million, 4 million..."

[TK421]

21. Whuuuuuat????

you've got to be shitting me...what became of that?

[morningglory]

25. Sued city for $10 million.

[calimary]

18. Sounds like just desserts to me.

Consequences for bad behavior. A very good idea. Whoever that officer was, I salute him. There MUST be bigtime penalties for this kind of wrongdoing. Just as there must be for Wall Street. If they pull this shit, there should be hell for them to pay.

[TK421]

19. Great story! Justice being served, comeuppance....LOVE IT!!

now, onto the other states....

[EFerrari]

20. Interesting. Beecher shows up on the list of possible "sundown towns" in IL:

http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntownsshow.php?state=IL

[NNN0LHI]

24. I never see the police harassing anyone these days when I drive through on Rt. 1

Not like I used to. I usually see at least one squad car broken down and in for repairs st Beckers Automotive. I don't even see that many speed traps any more. Hardly ever.

Might get worse at night? I am not out late very much.

Don

[Odin2005]

27. Pigs always get away with shit until they accidently piss off somebody superior to them.