Over the years, some of you may have heard, as I did, stories about how minorities and outsiders driving through the south were targeted by the local sheriffs and their deputies. And maybe you have friends or family like my friend Debbie, who moved south for a job and was harrassed by the local sheriff's office every single time she drove her shiny red car with the northern license plate - until she got the local plate and then all her troubles ceased.
A related story came to my attention this week and bears repeating. When you consider the Beck/Norris and Limbaugh nonsense, add in stories like Jena, add in every harassment of "outsiders" and minorities that does not make the news; this story shows just how bad things remain in our country. Dust off those '50's and '60's movies of the local southern sheriff gone amok, because those days never left. They've run for decades under the radar, but with the economic meltdown, these people are grasping at everything they can to try to save their dying towns and their dying lifestyles. Beware!
It seems that the small town of Tenaha, Texas has made "legal" highway robbery a thriving business. This town of 1,046 near the Louisianna border has been stopping those using the state highways to travel through Tenaha. Fortunately for Tenaha, many of those travellers are returning to the Houston area from legal gambling casinos in Louisianna. And those travellers often have their winnings on hand and in cash.
Tenaha is using asset-forfeiture laws to strip all valuables from those they stop. These travellers have not been charged with any crimes, and they are free to leave after they give up all valuables - cash, jewelery, whatever Tanaha wants to take. The town of Tenaha can make thousands of dollars with one traffic stop. Officials say they are engaged in a battle to combat drug trafficking and that seizing property during these traffic stops is legal.
Once you're stopped by Tenaha's finest, you are offered a deal. Either sign over all the belongings that they want to seize or face felony charges that may include money laundering or other crimes. I don't know about you, but I don't have a list of attorneys on speed dial. I'd be at a loss as to how to proceed if I were stopped for this treatment. After all, I'm just a law-abiding US citizen driving along a public road! Surely this won't happen to me in America! Even with an attorney, just how much is it going to cost to return to Shelby County for court appearances? Might it be easier to give up the cash? And that is what Tenaha is counting on.
Howard Witt, writing for the Chicago Tribune, reported on March 10, that 140 people accepted that very deal in a two-year period from June 2006 to June 2008. Just how do Tenaha police officers get Americans to sign over thousands of dollars in cash and property? Intimidation.
All horrible enough so far, but Tenaha singles out African-Americans and mixed-race families for their special brand of law enforcement. Apparently, this has been ok with Texans as long as whites don't get targeted. The Tribune article cites two cases - one a grandmother from Akron, Ohio, travelling alone, who surrendered $4,000 in cash so she could leave town. Another incident involved an interracial couple travelling through town in April, 2007, with their two children. Town officials told the couple that their children would be taken and put into foster care immediately if they chose to fight. They signed over more than $6,000 so they could leave with their children. No charges were filed against the people in either of these stories. Get that? They were never charged with any crime. But they still gave up thousands of dollars.
Tenaha officers keep a stack of police affidavits that have been presigned and prenotarized by police and the county district attorney. All officers have to do is fill in the blank spaces to describe the items being seized.
Attorney David Guillory sifted through county records, contacted all victims he could find that had forfeited money and goods but had not been charged with a crime, and found that of the 40 he was able to speak with personally, all but one victim were African-American. Town officials maintain that anyone carrying large sums of money must be involved in drug trafficking, but Guillory says that all victims he contacted could account for the cash they had on hand at the time they were stopped. Many were going to/from Shreveport casinos, and one was even purchasing a used car from a private seller and had the cash payment with him.
Guillory filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, in which he states Tenaha officials "have developed an illegal 'stop and seize' practice of targeting, stopping, detaining, searching and often seizing property from apparently non-white citizens and those traveling with non-white citizens." Witt's article states that Hispanics in southern areas of Texas and along the Mexican border feel they are also singled out for this treatment. It is not just a Tenaha phenonemon.
For now, Texans apparently think this is a fine and legitimate way for law enforcement officials to enhance their shrinking operational budgets. I suppose we can expect this practice to continue and even increase on all those hazarding a driving trip into Texas. However, State Senator John Whitmire is not happy with the way the asset-forfeiture law is being misused, and he introduced a bill on Monday that would require police to go before a judge before attempting to seize property. Remember the old movies? You'll probably be safe unless the Judge is somebody's brother-in-law or uncle. It's a step in the right direction, but will not likely fix the problem completely for more aggressive sheriffs.
It's amazing to me how we find ourselves in a new century but still stuck in the same place. Unpopular wars, health care issues, poor Americans still needing a better path out of their situation, and southern sheriffs who inspire scarey drive-in B movies. And just like last century when we worked to bring justice and an improved American experience to all Americans, prominent blowhards in the south are kicking and screaming all the way. This time, when the dust settles down a little bit, we cannot leave things as they are and walk away. "Good enough" is not always good enough.
Update 1:
Chicago Tribune print, Section 1, Page 4, Tuesday, March 10, 2009, "Highway Robbery in Texas?" by Howard Witt
Chicago Tribune online www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-texas-profiling_wittmar10,0,6051582.story
Awesome Attorney David Guillory of Nacogdoches - phone 936-559-9600 and a nice bio of him from a Nacogdoches County Democratic Party pdf file at:
www.nacdemocrats.org/Newsletter/2008_09_25.pdf
Could find no online links to the legislation Senator Whitmire introduced to the TX legislature on Monday, and cannot give great detail beyond the fact that this can still happen. He hopes to, sometime in the future, tighten the law so that police cannot seize your property until you've been charged with a crime convicted in court.
Also, no online link to the class action lawsuit.
Yes, I know this type of intimidation can happen anywhere in the country, but:
- This seizure of private property from traffic stops is apparently legal in TX, and Tenaha only got in trouble by singling out African-Americans. The actual practice and intimidation is apparently ok. A general google search provided comments on many blogs that indicate southern border states think this practice is just fine. I read one lunatic comment that "if a few innocent people get caught up, so be it." Yikes!
- The first thing my TX in-laws said when they met me was that it was interesting my husband's family (from MA) "talked funny" but that I (from upstate NY) did not. This whole singling people out for "talking funny" can be presented or taken any number of ways - innocent or sinister. But a singling out by your peers is not the same as someone in authority having every right to threaten you with felony charges and taking away your kids if you don't sign over all the money and property you've got on you. Not the same thing at all.