Do We Really Know It When We See It?
Racial profiling, that is. When the Chief Law Enforcement Officer states that anyone with dreadlocks and chee wee hairstyles will be receiving a visit from his armed Sheriff Deputies, do we know whether that is racial profiling? After his comments were questioned by civil rights organizations, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Strain had his spokesman issue a statement saying that his comments were in response to a recent quadruple murder in St. Tammany Parish and his descriptions were the same as those used by a witness to describe the perpetrator(s).
Seems we don't all know it when we see it. Most of the anonymous public comments regarding Sheriff Strain's statements have been supportive of his use of the hairstyle descriptions "dreadlocks" and "chee wee" and blanket description of Katrina survivors now living in temporary trailers as "trash" and "thugs".
In that regard, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana has teamed up with the Greater Covington NAACP to hold a forum on racial profiling at a town meeting next Wednesday in Covington, Louisiana.
Maybe at the town meeting we'll find out why some are so comfortable with the Sheriff's statements, including the Sheriff.
Does the Department of Justice know racial profiling?
Considering the recent mailing of boric acid to NAACP Units postmarked from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (down the road from Covington, Louisiana) and the statement yesterday by St. Tammany Parish Coroner that the victims were white and the perpetrator(s) are not, the Department of Justice's Community Relations Department has agreed to spend some time Wednesday in Covington, Louisiana.
And, what about the Sheriff's opinion that the first thing he would do is run the "slick" [criminal defense] lawyers out of town on a rail? The Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have promised to send statements to be read at the town meeting. If the Sixth Amendment protects your right to choose counsel, how does the Sheriff's statement affect future jury pools and has it had a chilling effect on aggressive defense by criminal defense attorneys?