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Stray Thoughts Looking for a Home
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
(1) I read the story in the Toledo Blade regarding City
Councilman Larry Sykes being profiled by Toledo Police.
There was no evidence of any wrongdoing by Larry and
any “record check” proved fruitless.
So, what was at work here? Simple. Racial profiling at
its best.
The cops were wrong…wrong…wrong. They were two bored white
cops looking for a little excitement during their shift and
thought, “hey why not pull over some black person and maybe,
just maybe we might get lucky and who knows,
even have a chance to pull a gun on him if he makes some
“furtive movements”!
Kudos to Larry for reporting this crass and racist
behavior. We will see what
investigation will be done by Chief Moton regarding these
freelancing cowboys.
My suggestion? Put them in the motor pool or on cross
guard duty for sixty
days and give them racial sensitivity training and then see
if they are fit to
be in a patrol car again without harassing people.
You got to understand two things. Municipalities, like
corporations, only change their negative policies or
behavior when they get a bucket load of
bad PR or they get socked in the gut with a costly financial
settlement.
Until then they will do as they please.
So, my message is quite simple: To any minority person, male
or female, who has been racially profiled without legal
justification, file a timely complaint with the internal
affairs bureau of the Toledo Police (downtown headquarters)
and send a signed copy to the following persons: (1) Chief
Moton (2) every city councilperson (3) the mayor (4) The
Blade, The Truth and The Journal and Ray Wood at the local
NAACP.
Whatever you do, don’t sit around and stew about it. Be
proactive and stand up. When stopped, act calmly and ask
the reason for the stop and
cooperate with the cops as to providing your ID and
insurance card.
Note the time and place of the stop and if you can,
without getting a billy club upside your uppity head, ask
for their badge numbers or car number.
If the cops are in a mood to agitate you in the hopes
that you will fly off
the handle and say or do something stupid so they can arrest
you, resist that urge and be calm. No, you do not have to
consent to your vehicle being searched.
If you have passengers in your care, tell them to be
quiet and to cooperate which also includes them showing
their ID’s if so asked.
I remember when I was racially profiled when I was in
law school. I was driving an old blue Chevy Malibu hoopty
car at night when I was stopped near St. Francis High School
coming back from The University of Toledo Law School
library. I was told by the two white cops that my car
matched that of a car that was involved in a burglary.
When I was checked out and was cleared, I asked for their
badge numbers and duly protested this harassment. Nothing
came of it but I was not going to allow those two cops the
satisfaction that they got away with something.
(2) Well, Jack Ford went ahead and filed his petitions with
the Board of Elections so he can run against State Senator
Edna Brown.
What is Jack’s cover story? A lot of gibberish about how the
current slate of representatives purportedly dropped the
ball regarding the bill about the elimination of economic
empowerment zones.
For Jack, any port in the storm will do. It could have
been a bill about eliminating dog fleas at circus rodeos. It
did not matter the cover story. Jack is bored and wants to
get back into the limelight and adulation that he
profoundly misses being in the state capitol.
At Jack’s age and with his health issues, I have earlier
commented that he needs to find a hobby like flower
arranging or being a museum docent or volunteering to be a
street crossing guard at a local elementary school.
But not Jack. He believes in his own PR releases that he
is the political cat’s meow for northwest Ohio and in
particular for the African-American populace.
What is needed is for someone to take Jack out to lunch
and gently inform him that his glory days are now memories.
He had a myriad of chances to lead the charge of Light
Brigade into battle and to stand on the capitol steps and
raise his fist and right the many wrongs but he did not do
so in this writer’s opinion.
Now, Jack is seeking redemption. He wants to have a
chance to make a last stand and show people that he still
has the fire in his belly for a fight but where was that
fire when he was on city council? Where was that zeal when
he was on the school board regarding minority issues?
Did Jack cut down beanstalks when he was a past state
rep? When he was mayor, did Jack slice and dice those who
were gate-blockers to the progress of minorities? If he did,
show me the records that say otherwise and thus throw a
cream pie in my face!
I urge everyone who reads this column to not send Jack
a dime for any
campaign monies (don’t worry, he and his best bud Carty will
find means to raise funds…don’t help them out) and when it
comes time to vote, send Jack home with a vote that says,
Keep Edna Brown in office!
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
Tolliver@Juno.com
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