Thursday, November 7, 2013

Having too much time on one's hands can be tough



In my mind, there are not many things more annoying than someone who operates under the cover of the “law” with nothing to do, and is looking for something to do. These kind of people have a habit of “seeing” things that are not there. For example, you are late for a bus, an appointment, or for work. In order to make it on time, you run to wherever you need to be. Now, to a law enforcement type who is actively looking for “suspicious” behavior, running can be “interpreted” as such. Or just standing at a crosswalk waiting for the light to change; a Tukwila cop I encountered thought this was “suspicious” behavior; he told me I should be more “friendly” afterwards. 

Sometimes cops with too much time on their hands really strain to justify harassment. I recall one incident when a Kent cop sitting in his vehicle watched me pass by on the sidewalk and then jumped out and demanded to know where I was going. I told him I was on my way to work at the airport. Disbelieving, he demanded to see my ID card, which I did, Clearly frustrated he allowed me to continue, but still observing me; before I reached the next corner, I cut across an empty parking lot, which would have taken about 30 seconds had not the cop wizzed around the corner and blocked my exit. He jumped out of the vehicle in obvious relish, telling me that I was on "private property" and  “now” he had an excuse to see my “real” identification, meaning my driver’s license. However, perhaps because he recognized my name and “habit” of filing complaints about police abuses (either that or he was confused because I didn’t have a “Spanish” name), he seemed confused about what to do next and let me go without even calling the dispatcher to see if I had any warrants or on a terrorist watch list. 

Police are not the only people with the power to decide if you can come or you can go. There was some story in the paper concerning “outrage” that a 64-year-old Filipino woman with a legitimate visitor’s visa—and had entered and returned without incident on numerous occasions in the past—who was accosted by ICE at the airport and denied entry after an “interrogation” lasting several hours. The woman claimed to be in the country to attend her son’s wedding, and there was no reason for ICE agents to disbelieve this; however, it was determined that she intended to “stay” and work as a housekeeper or caregiver. How they came to this conclusion was likely based on “statistical probability” rather than actual evidence to support the supposition. 

Perhaps such behavior would be more “understandable” if it was linked to reality. The population of Seattle’s International District (“Chinatown”) is not precisely known, and I’ve seen the make-up of the population that is actually of Asian origin range from 42 to 56 percent. 63 percent of the population was born outside the country, and over 50 percent communicate in a language other than English or Spanish. How much of that population is in the country illegally can only be guessed, because no wants to find out; the irony is that the immigration detention center overlooks it from a nearby upgrade. No doubt it is an inscrutable place where police (or ICE agents) have little authority and tend not delve too deeply into its secrets; when Walsh told Jake to “Forget it, it’s Chinatown” in the film of that name. he meant that nothing good can come from interfering in the inner workings of a community that is culturally insular and little understood. 

Unfortunately the ridiculous seems more in evidence. Take this scenario: Someone who is obviously an employee but one of those “ethnic” types that are generally stereotyped as being a member of a “targeted” group is taking a break for a few minutes, drinking coffee and watching CNN. Two ICE agents and a couple of airport security officers show up. The only other people in the area are two white males, obviously business types; the agents ask to look inside their bags. The men “joke” about it but are plainly annoyed; the airport employee finishes his coffee and walks right past the security officers who don’t even notice him. He’s an employee, after all, with an FBI-approved right to work there. Five minutes later, angry ICE agents are racing around in their van looking for their actual “target,” who they glare menacingly at when they finally find him performing his work function.  

This is the kind of thing you might expect when people feel they need to account for themselves in the absence of rationalizations to justify their existence. I recall an incident at the Kent Station shopping area; I was washing my hands in the only public restroom in the place when a security guard who probably saw me via a security camera came in and starting acting in an “intimidating” manner. I told him to bugger off, to which he responded by telling I had to vacate the premises and banned from returning; my response was to frustrate him by finding a nearby bench and parking my fundament. He called the Kent police, and when they arrived I told them that I felt I had done nothing wrong and was being harassed for no reason but racially profiling; I was now exercising my right to act out in civil disobedience. 

The cops seemed to be amused and “suggested” that my point was made and that I should leave. I didn’t come back until six months later when I had an appointment for an eye exam at an eye wear business, which I had patronized a few years previously without incident. No sooner had I stepped onto the premises I was accosted by the same security guard as before, demanding that I leave or he’d call the police. I told him to where to go and entered the establishment. Before long a cop walked in and told me to go outside, where I explained how I was harassed for no reason by this security guard; the cops asked the guard what I had done to attract his attention, and I watched with some amusement as he mumbled and fumbled “explaining” himself and his actions. How can you explain racial profiling in the absence of anything “abnormal” to justify it? 

The cops, somewhat surprisingly, allowed the security guard to squirm with their skeptical response. I was then told to go about my business.

No comments:

Post a Comment