Black ACLU official accuses black troopers of racial profiling
Stupid, reckless lawsuit of the day award goes to King Downing, an anti-profiling crusader and ACLU official who is suing the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the Boston Logan airport, and Massachusetts State Police, because he was asked for identification in 2003:
The top official in charge of fighting racial profiling for the American Civil Liberties Union says he was the victim of profiling at the Boston airport, and he has gone to federal court to challenge a screening technique that relies on suspicious behavior to identify potential terrorists.
King Downing said he was stopped and questioned by state police in October 2003 after arriving on a flight to attend a meeting on racial profiling.
Downing sued the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport, and Massachusetts State Police, alleging they violated his constitutional right against unreasonable search. A trial in the case began Monday in U.S. District Court. Downing, who is black and wears a short beard, said in his lawsuit that he was stopped by a state trooper and asked to show identification after he left the gate area and made a phone call in the terminal.
Who were the supposed jackbooted bigots who stopped him? Well, take a closer look:
Logan officials say race played no role in the decision to question Downing. The first trooper to ask Downing for identification was black, and three of the four officers who arrived later were also black, according to court documents. The first trooper said he became suspicious when he saw Downing watching him.
The do-nothing ACLU won’t be satisfied until every last homeland defense is dismantled. They argue that national security profiling should be based on behavior, not race/ethnicity/nationality/national origin/religion–and then they turn around and sue to stop behavior profiling.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
Political correctness is the handmaiden of terrorism.
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Categories: Racial profiling
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Why does anyone take the ACLU seriously anymore?
By the way, last week in Wilmington, NC I watched TSA agents make an elderly man get up from his wheel chair so they could wave the wand over him while his elderly wife helped him stand.
Seriously. I felt so much safer after that…
this is so disgusting. this excessive use of the race card is a self fulfilling prophecy.
Downing could be a useful idiot. The more extreme and ludicrous the ACLU’s positions become, the better chance sensible people will have of defeating their unAmerican foolishness.
aclu says it should be based on behavior, well this was:
so, no, the aclu does not want it based on behavior, they do not want anything to be done. we can’t be proactive we can only be reactive, then the criminals run rampid. pure anarchy! that is what the aclu wants
So the ACLU says profiling should be based on behavior? Isn’t that exactly what the officers say led them to pull him over? That he was watching them?
Having read Downing’s complaint I find it impossible to believe the facts set forth by the plaintiff. One of the first things I learned in my law enforcement career is there are two sides to every story.
First of all, I too would have asked him for ID. I too would have questioned his behavior and I too would have asked for verification of his need to be present in the airport. I believe that the facts presented in court will justify the actions of the troopers.
The ACLU will not stop until have morning prayer calls in every part of our country.
If you’re looking for profiling and a pretty good story to tell/lawsuit, you’re going to find it.
And yt1300inHtown,
I do feel safer when any person boarding the same plan as I am is searched for whatever reason. Old, young, feeble, what’s the difference. Anyone can be a patsy and duped into assisting someone getting a weapon onboard.
Since when is screening someone based on suspicious behavior wrong! That is the best reason to stop someone. This scumbag probably travels just hoping for security to stop him so that he can sue. I would rather see them be over cautious than not.
I hope next time they give this jack**s a body cavity search!!
That is pretty much what I got from the article too, so what is the problem now?
There will always be profiling - there’s no way around it - think about it for a minute. If you’re specifically ordered NOT to racially or behaviorally profile, you have to be specifically alert for races and behaviors you’re not supposed to profile, so you can ignore them. So what’s the problem?
yt1300inHtown said:
Why does anyone take the ACLU seriously anymore?
By the way, last week in Wilmington, NC I watched TSA agents make an elderly man get up from his wheel chair so they could wave the wand over him while his elderly wife helped him stand.
Seriously. I felt so much safer after that…
They should have checked the battery compartment too.
Anyone can send forth the rallying cry, “DISCRIMINATION” and the fearful government, at whatever level, falls into place. Well, anyone except someone like me: white, Christian, straight, etc…
Every time I hear one of these ridiculous stories about a whiney nut making an asinine complaint, I think that the end of the madness must finally be near, that people will see through the PC BS and finally cry, “ENOUGH!”
But it never seems to happen.
How long will it take? Will the end of the insanity only come with the end of this country as we know it?
We already do. The ACLU calls us “Conservatives”!
Wouldn’t that create the necessary circumstances to open up a sexual harassment lawsuit on top of the discrimination charges?
Oops. The cavity search I meant, could cause a sexual harassment suit on top of the (baseless) charges of discrimination.
I either need coffee or sleep.
I admit, I also considered that this man purposely waits to get searched or questioned so he can make a complaint.
What was he watching the troopers for? Perhaps looking for something to complain about?
*Obvious disclaimer in case someone would attack me over this: I do not know that this is what happened. It simply strikes me as a possibility. Goodness knows it wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to incite racism against themselves in order to make an issue of it.
OT-
did I miss the segment on the Today show with Maureen Faulkner? anyone?
Because no matter how silly or baseless their claims are they still have the will and the resources to cause great mischief, and potentially loss of life. We have to take them seriously.
The worst thing you can do is start acting suspiciously in an airport in this post 9/11 world. I really believe the ACLU is in league with our enemies to get as many as of killed in the next major terrorist attack by slowly dismantling every security safeguard they can. This communist founded organization needs to lose their tax free status and if I had my way their members would be stripped of their citizenship and deported (I know my fantasy world and I’ll make it as big as I want to).
It should be looked into as to whether this idiot is in cahoots with the Flying Imams. Maybe he’s trying to get a minor precedent set with his case in order for the ACLU to apply it to a larger case.
I doubt if it would be the first time something like this was tried. That’s just my thoughts on it.
This guy was probably in his Rage Boy costume as he was staring down the cops and acting shifty, then will show up in court clean-shaven and well-dressed.
Intently staring at a person is a powerful tool to incite. I would call it a minor assault.
Let’s organize and get lawyers to sue to sue(ers)!
Talk - talk - talking is useless. ACTION is the only means to achieve results.
That would be : Let’s organize,give ourselves a name and sue the sue(ers).
Wonder if he has his pants cleaned at a Washington Dry Cleaners, too?
Absolutely. These people want to push the limits of this society until they break it. And I believe that is their intention… to break it. Just like a kid who stretches a slinky out too far just to see if it will snap back… but it won’t… it’s ruined.
DANG!!! don’t it figure it’s in Massachusetts, where it is now illegal to NOT have health insurance!
message to the ACLU:
eat sht & die!!!
This is kinda like my Peurto Rican cop buddy pulling over a drunk Hispanic women and telling him that he was racist or the black crack head that came into my store and had to be escorted out by two black officers’s calling them racist bas!@#$% all the way out. LOL
ACLU=Perpetuating Racism
Jerk
I thought hiring minority officers was supposed to cure law enforcement race issues.
Apparently some people are never satisfied.
Want to see a candidate for the Presidency zoom into the lead?
Declare war on out of control civil rights organizations, Americans are fed up with the bullying and just plain wrong headed actions of the ACLU.
Racism is such a powerful tool in our society these days. When the first person to back down because of
this word did so, it grew and grows more every time it
is used and another person backs down. It is now the
bugaboo under the bed that everyone is afraid of and
is used at every opportunity whether applicable or not. When we are not being racist and are brave enough to stand up to charges of racism, then the word will begin to lose its power.
Until then it will just continue to grow.
Oh, on the S-Chip thread on MM’s site, JimM has a
wonderful comment on illegal immigration.
It is worth reading.
The ACLU is part of the problem, they need to be considered when it comes time for a solution - they should not have a path to enable my injury.
Monday, I was brought to tears as TSA agents humiliated an adult man with Down’s Syndrome. They made him lift his shirt up while his wheelchair-bound attendant helped him remove his belt. He was obviously distressed by revealing his big belly, and heaven only knows what else they did to him.
It was outrageous.
That’s right…because when the behaviour dictates that you should alert the crew…such as moving about the plane in groups into seats that aren’t yours, ordering extenders for the seat belts when you clearly do not need them, speak loudly about the war in Iraq and the Evil American and how you hope that they lose and can’t wait for their demise, pray in an obnoxious and overt way so that everyone in the airport notices just before the flight, and then do other crazy and suspicious acts either before, during or after a flight…that is always the betteer action.
Lord knows no one has EVER questioned ANYONE who has done something like reported people for doing even one of those things. After all, it isn’t as if a group of Muslims could ever possibly do all of those things. That would be insane. I mean, only people either trying to hijack a plane or feel an airline out for thier hijackability would do something like that. And then, that might actually lead to calls of racial profiling by the likes of this person who says actions should dictate such things.
Man, I think I just made myself dizzy from the spin. How the hell do they do it, spinning around all the time? I can’t get through it at all.
Well put Michelle. I also think it is a cover for criminal activity as is profilingophobe. The ACLU has become a sub-culture hate group and should so be treated.
Yes! Stop profiling those that act suspiciously as “suspicious.” It’s just not fair! [/sarc]
They should have issued him a citation for EWS: Existing while stupid.
Profiling saves lives.
A couple of us were discussing the TSA and their SOPs the other day. The conclusion we came to: Profiling works!
Take a look at El Al, and any other Israeli national carriers. It may not be politically correct, but they racially and behaviorally profile people getting on their flights. If you look or act suspicious, you are pulled aside and given exrta attention. If everything checks out, you get on your flight, no harm no foul. Anyone want to take a guess as to the number of aircraft hijacked or destroyed by terrorists since this policy was instituted?
Of course, the other half of the equation is the hiring and training of competent individuals with the proper mindset. Unfortunately, too many TSA employees wouldn’t be able to get a job as a mall ninja, but they’re screening people that board our airlines. Don’t get me wrong, there are some TSA screeners that take their job seriously and are very good at it. But they are far outnumbered by the individuals who seem to have been hired under the “Today’s inmates, tomorrow’s TSA screeners” program.
I hate flying.
You should see what they do to suspected car bombers in Israel. Let’s just say, “Shoot first, ask later” is the best way to describe it, and so far, they have a really great track record of being correct. I think that is a great way to handle things in Iraq and, push comes to shove…
Rosa Parks faced discrimination.
Mr. Downing faced what we all face when pulled over by troopers or police(I know I have gotten a speeding ticket…or two). They ask questions like where are you headed or in his case what is your business at the airport. Where is the fine line? When are these officers of the law simply doing their jobs?
You have the right to be offended when your behavior warrants further investigation and you are pulled over. Thank the officer for a job well done and move on with your life.
That is if you don’t have an agenda…
What the article does not point out was that King was stopped twice. He was stopped initially, asked to produce identification politely, and refused. Amazingly, the officer let him walk away.
As he left the airport, the four officers stopped him and demanded he produce identification or risk arrest. At this point he produced an ID, which checked out, and they let him move on.
That’s it. That’s the complaint. Whatever happened to the idea that if an officer asks you to do something, you do it (except for illegal/immoral/unsafe acts, of course). He was baiting the cops, looking for a fight. What a dufus.
Downing is a scumbag and has a sissy name.
AJ montanta said
OT-
did I miss the segment on the Today show with Maureen Faulkner? anyone?
I saw it AJ, Lauer was a putz, even dared to ask Mrs. Faulkner if she ever had doiubts, kept referring to SOOO MANY people believe he’s innocent, as though that is proof that there must be some doubt, instead of what it is mass dem delusion…