Trump advocates “Stop & Frisk” for the Black community
By Don Valentine
“Stop and frisk worked,” Trump said on Fox & Friends this Thursday. As you may recall, this gave the police the option to stop anyone on a whim for no probable cause. This let the police frisk you and check your i.d for anything. This could be as unreasonable as they thought your pants sagged too much or your being in the wrong neighborhood. Imagine how this would impact people of color?
When this tactic was implemented in New York City in 2002 it resulted in a marginal increase of 12% in convictions. It did lead to close to 700,000 minorities a year being inconvenienced by 2011. Should Trump review the Constitution he would realize the fallacy of his proposition. The 6th amendment clearly states that “The right of the people to be secure in their person from unreasonable search…shall not be violated…” That is why on August 12, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the stop and frisk practice was unconstitutional.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio is on the record warning Trump not to go forward with this concept. According to a 9-22 article by Reuters, De Blasio disputed Trump’s assertion that it lowered the crime rate in the city. He affirmed documentation that showed it was a shift to a more tenacious policing effort known as “Broken Windows” policing that lowered the crime rate. This was a policy of not ignoring any crime from being prosecuted. This is opposed to stopping people of color randomly, assuming they must be some kind of miscreant because of their color.
In closing, let me implore every reader to get out and vote. Discuss the temperament, lack of experience and moral ethos of Trump with your community. How many people do you know that have a 6 foot portrait of themselves, filed for bankruptcy 6 times [politifact.com], or brags about using other people’s money?
