Police and Racial Profiling in South L.A.
Stereotyping is not always bad. Stereotyping is mostly used in a negative light and I open this article to say that this word is misused. To make conclusions is typically human nature and a common behavior that every person is guilty of. Stereotyping is simply having expectations, and making assumptions within seconds of another person. However, stereotyping is the easy gateway to a thought that is never okay among cross cultural disputes: Bigotry. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, bigotry means “obstinate or intolerant devotion to one's own opinions and prejudices” (Merriam-Webster). The difference between bigotry and stereotyping is that bigotry occurs when assumptions go deeper than what is practical, a person has not taken the time to become educated on demographics and cultures, assumptions are malicious, and a person is being rash, sexist, or racist in his or her thoughts. Stereotyping can be justifiable and is a tool people use every single day; For example, if one afternoon, at a bank, a 6 foot tall man pulls up in a facemask, unidentifiable clothing, a gun, a satchel, and a getaway car, it is safe to assume this is not the new, 5 foot tall, teller that was hired last week coming in for her shift. Stereotyping could even be argued as a survival instinct when it comes to dangerous situations, like an armed bank thief. Stereotypes are aspects that a person reflects on about themselves. Accepting, understanding, and knowing stereotypes that may be made about oneself is vital in cross cultural dispute resolution and a form of empathy. When a person is aware of the stereotypes others may make of him or her, it helps people become more understanding and approachable. This self-awareness allows people to learn how to not respond offendedly, it aids people in educating others on what is politically correct, and allows someone to know when to draw the line that crosses into the realm of bigotry. Stereotypes help people set boundaries.
The parties in this cross cultural conflict will be broken down into a precise example: black crime in south Los Angeles. Assumptions of black men in America is unfair bigotry that has continued for centuries. The psychology of this important topic is vital to discuss at this time because a visible cultural shift is occurring where everyone must stand up against racial profiling. Bigotry has been around since the beginning of human history and has been amplified through cultures all over the world. America has become the poster child in this deep-rooted racial based issue due to the country’s history. This issue has cost people their freedom, rights, money, time, values, family, and lives. A topic like racial bigotry can be difficult to comprehend as it is broad in its nature. Moving forward, the word “stereotype” will not be used in place of situations better described as the word “bigotry”. Diving into this topic, background knowledge will be the based on this understanding, personal stories will assist in telling the story of a larger issue, different parties will be responsible for their actions and perspectives in a conflict, and this will be analyzed from a mediator’s perspective.
Thirteen percent of the male population is black, but thirty-five percent of men that are incarcerated are black (Vera.org). This uneven ratio will be the basis of the racism that is systematically implied in the American prison system. The different parties in this daunting dispute are black men wrongfully profiled and police officers; Black men because they are directly targeted, and police officers because they are the first non-community members in contact with suspects. This topic is important because of the series of infamous racist events that have occured in American history: Slavery and World War I, segregation and the post-slavery south, the Klu Klux Klan and Brown v. Board of Education, Emmitt Till and Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd Protests to name a few. Clearly, a large and broad topic like this would never be settled in mediation, because that would not be sufficient in tackling and fixing the epidemic that is systemic racism. However, as this topic is discovered more in this study, a specific case will be spelled out in a hypothetical mediation.
Cases based on racism are commonly handled among mediators with the Los Angeles Police Department in downtown Los Angeles. Any person, at any time, can report an occurrence of bias. This bias does not need to be exclusive to race, becuase they will mediate all kinds of biases, such as gender, sexual orientation, or simply, rudeness. In a case where racism is accused, it is necessary that both parties are heard by the neutral third party and the opposing party. These cases are not heard in mediation if an arrest has occured or if either party members do not voluntarily wish to mediate. If an arrest occures, this investigation will be disected in court. If a party chooses to leave the mediation at any time, and for any reason, they are allowed to. The process is voluntary. Community based compliant mediation is a popular topic in 2022 America, although many countries overseas are exploring this option too. Large cities like Los Angeles have begun implementing this tool in order to build trust and rapport with the community. LAPD first introduced this to the public in 2014, after creating it three years prior. A case like this would begin with a community member accusing a police officer of acting racially biased at the time of their incounter with the officer. These stories and reports have proven to be unclear and overall difficult to investigate, so having well-practiced mediators performing this duty is needed. Implementing this in a community also helps with reading the racial bias climate, whether it be based on time or location, it may be more common in one city than another. In investigating these accusations, the mediator has to break down everything that the officers were thinking and what they were seeking from a pull over or other kind of police enforcement. The goal of the mediator is that both parties have an agreeable understanding of what happened and the police officer was not abusing his or her legal power. The mediator aims to place both the community member and police officer on a mutual ground and are typically heard on the online tele-meeting system Zoom. In cases that are a racially motivated misunderstanding, one party saying “I am sorry” seems to go a long way in the direction of progress and forgiveness. Mediation can be normalized and celebrated for these cases because it cannot, and will not, end in punishment as they are not official legal investigations. This process does no harm and is strictly for bringing positivity in a community. These cases are also free to the community and are far more practical than litigation. Litigation would requiry a jury, hired lawyers, and public documentation. In these mediations, it is also not a requirement that a resolution is implemented. In unofficial cases, there is no formal investingation, so nothing negative will be tied to the officer’s badge and it will not be legally associated with the community member. Not only does this process satisfy a large diverse community like Los Angeles, but it also brings accountability to officers. Community members have an opportunity to learn more about the actions and reasonings behind law enforcement. As more people have become aware of these helpful mediators, people grew curious, like the students at the University of Southern California; These students conducted a study shortly after this option was introduced in order to learn more about community satisfaction and the proceedings. This study took place in the time from 2014 to 2016, resulting in just over two years of data (https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/bringing-sides-together/?ref=7e7204767b0ac016b78ddc36cbb613a8). The students based their findings on 221 compiled complaints in the LAPD system. Data was collected by both parties in the means of a post mediation survey. 59 of the 221complaints were heard in mediation. In the end, the students found that officers were more satisfied with mediation than the community members. 90.2 percent of officers were satisfied while 70 percent of community members were satisfied. Both parties felt that the mediation was fair and that the mediator was experienced in this field. Both 80 percent of community members and officers would recommend the process of mediation to other people. A white male officer left this testimonial on his survey:
“I stopped a male African American for crossing the street against a red pedestrian hand
signal. The complainant believed that I just stopped him because of his race. During
mediation, the complainant apologized for his comments and the race complaint. I was
able to outline the Department’s efforts to save lives through traffic enforcement. I
received a better understanding of his perception and past contact with law enforcement
that allows me to be sympathetic with future contacts.”
This is what a community member left in his survey:
“It was a good learning experience for the cop and me. We both learned a lot from
it. I think he’ll try to do his job a little better. We ended up shaking hands, it was
good.”
The most difficult aspect of this process is that the mediators are volunteers. While mediation is highly important and the mediators are specially trained for the city and police department they work in, they are all unpaid. City funding and taxes are a hard category to be included into. This is the most prominent reason why most places in America do not have access to this helpful tool. Mediators do what they do for the sake of the people that comprise a community and that makes them heroes, peacemakers, and selfless. Most cities can not afford and have a hard time finding volunteer mediators in this niche category. A variety of aspects could promt a mediation that includes racial bigotry. It could be that the officer was being blatanlty racist, it could be that this is how the officer treats everyone, it could be percieved in a multitude of ways. The city will only proceed with mediation in a reported case if they feel it is appropriate to do so. Some may argue that this filtration of what to mediate and what not to mediate is inaccurate. In order to mediate a case, an argument must be sound, there must be evidence of some kind, and there must be valid feelings that were compromised. Despite all the difficulties that can come from this kind of dispute resolution, they are progressing. This progress does not go unnoticed to those that it truly influences. When community members hear of this resource, it is comforting to know that they will never go unheard.
In 1988 through 2002, LA journalist, Jill Leovy, researched every single homicide in south LA. During this time and her ambitious investigation, there were at least fourty unsolved homicides per square mile, most of which included people of color. Her perogative was to learn more about the people involved in these homicides and why they were not solved compared to neighboring cities that have not dealt with any unsolved homicides in years. The residents of south LA would generally describe themselves as tough, “street smart”, and adopting “strong” mannerisms. These mannerisms are amplified with their language, clothing, jargon, and presented body movements like limping and a hand in pocket. Leovy said that most of the victims who were murded did not embrace the lingo and presentation that makes a man tough on the streets of Southern California. These mannerisms serve as a means of survival for men on the street in order to intimidate others that could harm them. “It was always the quiet ones'' said Leovy in the YouTube video “Looking at South L.A.’s homicide epidemic | Author Jill Leovy”. Some of these murders took place in popular streets, at intersections, and other public areas, yet they remained unsolved, some for decades and even some to this day. As a result, resentment is built up in these communities. People have gotten away with murdering someone’s son or daughter and no justice has been served. Murderers are walking free on the streets. As a result, interactions with law enforcement are onerous in downtown LA. In 2001, Leovy was hired as the columist in the LA Times with a beat in crime. She had a desk installed in the LAPD office detective unit so that she was able to fully involve her daily life in this research. In 2006, Leovy worked her desk job with the LA Times, but she mostly spent her time driving across LA with a police scanner letting her know her next investigation and another unfortunate victime added to her research. In the year of 2006, she reported every homicide in LA for a year. She researched over 847 homicides in the sprawling city. Leovy discovered a disturbing ratio among the victims: for every one white women that was murdered, 100 black men were murdered.
Jill Leovy wrote one of the most important books to the people of LA, Ghettoside. The book has received many notable awards and was first published in January of 2015. The book comprises all of Leovy’s research in the detective unit. The book is based on hundreds of reports and it can become overwhelming to a reader at times. These reports Leovy wrote included all of her journalistic investigation, but also photographs of the victimes and every detail about the victim that she could find. The story is fast paced and is meant to make the reader angry, upset, and dissapointed about the failure to get justice for these victims. This justice is not only exclusive to law enforcement, but also to local press outlets who actively choose not to report the stories. The book is truly unforgetable, and she writes in the third person in order for the reader to feel like they are present the entire story, witnessing injustice and no recognition being granted to families and victims. Leovy allows the reader into places of LA that most people would not dare to step foot in. Gang, street violence, and the living room of a family mourning the loss of their son. Leovy is a journalist, so throughout the story she sways from the traditional American Press style of writing to writing with a lot of emotion. She is incredibly detailed in her stories and has made justice for these families by having their son’s name be heard in her writing. The pictures she paints with her words are gruesome, infuriating, and disturbing, but it is the only way she can tell the stories because they are real. Some details about one specific murder included a black man that was shot on the street and when the police arrived at the scene he was missing a quarter of his skull and vomitting blood. A different murder had a grieving mother running up to her black son as he died in her arms. The mother lifted his shirt up to show multiple gunshot wounds to his torso. (Leovy, Ghettoside)
While embelishing multiple other murders throughout the narrative, Leovy seems to base the entire story around one murder in particular: Bryant Tennelle. (https://homicide.latimes.com/post/bryant-tennelle/) Tennelle was an eighteen year old black man killed in broad daylight on the streets of LA. The LA Times article says that he was murdered on 80th street by a man who walked up to him and shot him in the head. Tennelle died that evening in the hospital on May 11th, 2007. Two men were later charged for the murder of Tennelle, the assailants were only 16 and 25 years old and were members of a gang. The article briefly mentions, but does not give the reader the full background on Tennelle and his family. Tennelle’s father, Wally Sr., was a LAPD officer at the time of his son’s murder. His father was a robbery homicide detective and the two gunmen did not know that they were murdering a son of a police officer in their neighborhood. The article does not tell the reader about the full story of Tennelle family, his siblings DeeDee and Wally Jr., how Bryant was always a good kid with thebest intentions. He was a quiet person and did not do so well in the public school system. In events leading to his death, he started changing his clothes differently, he got his ears pierced and then a tattoo. He changed the kinds of music he listened to, and before his family knew it, he was hanging around a different crowd. He was not a member of a gang, but he began being friendly with the members around his neighborhood. He was affiliated, but never an official member of a gang. Leovy suspects that he was murdered because he was walking with friends that were official members of a gang, and he could have been mistaken for someone else. It makes a person wonder, “How could Bryant’s dad not see what is occurring when this is his place of expertise?” His own father had seen this story play out time and time again. Bryant was murdered just a few walking minutes from his home. Wally, his father, grew up in south LA, and was seen as a courageous man for working in this dangerous area. He knew this part of town better than anywhere else, so while the other police officers living in his area chose to commute over an hour to safer places like Orange County and Calabasas, he stayed right where he was at.
Intertwined within conversation of black murder and bigotry, the topic of the Second Amendment circulates. There is the stereotype of the “white school shooter,” but what is less discussed are these murder weapons in general, like the one that killed Bryant. The issue with these guns are bigger than the stereotypes. In south LA, or like Leovy calls this part of town “Ghettoside '', weapons are constantly circulating among people in the streets. Through forensic evidence, it is easy to know what kind of gun and ammunition was used to murder someone. Forensic science will show dimensions, distances, time of day, and fingerprints. For the first time in history and in the year of 2022, science and technology development is not a worry of homicide investigatiors. Computer software and identification numbers makes tracking down the “owner” of the gun easy. In south LA, and especially with these murders, that software does no good in solving a murder. Most of the time these murderers do not legally own the gun that they are carrying. One specific example in Ghettoside tells the story of a disabled man living in downtown LA who is handicap, can not walk, and has to spend all of his time in a wheelchair. He bought a gun because he can not outrun thieves and he can not fight off marauders in his home. Somehow, he was later associated with the murder of a black man named Devon. He did not murder anyone and he had to go through the excrutiating process of being a suspect in an investigation, even though he was the victim of theft.
A real-life case where a police officer was accused of racial bigotry occured in Beverly Hills in October of 2020 and this is how it could be handeled in cross cultural mediation (Hayes, ABC 7). LaKisha Swift and Joseph Nett are a romantic couple. Both Swift and Nett are black Americans. The couple was pulled over on Rodeo Drive in the Beverly Hills Neighborhood of LA. The officer said that he pulled them over for a minor traffic violation. Swift claims that the officer that pulled them over treated them like criminals because of their race. Now the couple is being represented by attorney Ben Crump and Brad Gage who are suing the Beverly Hills Police Deparment of racial bigotry, especially against black people. At the time of being pulled over, Swift was handcuffed for over twenty minutes, while Nett was taken into custody. Nett was kept in custody for three days and was released because he never got charged for a crime. This is a case that is perfect to be settled in mediation because there are plenty of interactions between the community members and the police department. This case of Swift and Nett is another element of the larger lawsuit that the two attorneys have against the police department, but for this hypothetical mediation, only the Swift and Nett case will be discussed. This lawsuit is directly targeted at the BHPD because they have recently introduced two new programs: Safe Streets and the Rodeo Drive Task Force.The news article said that in the task force so far, they have made 90 arrests, but 80 of those arrests were on black people. The attorneys claim that this new temporary task force comes from years of racial profiling and discrimination. The task was introduced to crack down on credit card fraud and other stealing tactics used by scammers in the popular shopping district on Rodeo Drive. In mediation, if there were no attorney, the mediator should approach a serious allegation like this in the specific mediation process. Before the mediation commences, the mediator should be well informed on the police interaction with the couple. She should watch and study all body camera footage, she should read all notes made by the officer and she should watch any nearby security cameras capturing the situation. The second step would be for the mediator to call each party over the phone so that she could get to know who they are better. It would not matter who she should call first since she is being sent this mediation from the city, but on the principle that Swift and Nett are the intiators in this accusation, she should call them first. After the mediator hears the side of the story from the community members then she should call the officer who pulled them over and any officers that showed up to the scene to get their accounts. After she has a thorough understanding of all perspectives, then she can work on scheduling a mediation joint session with all of the parties. Once that meeting is scheduled, then she should take the time to explain who she is: “Hello, I am a neutral third party speciallizing in racially motivated mediation and I have been doing this for ten years.” Showing the party her experiences will allow the parties to trust her as a neutral medium and someone that they can tell all details to. She should also explain that this mediation will not end in punishment of any kind to either of the parties. The mediator should explain to the parties that this is an entirely voluntary and confidential process. If either party chooses to leave at any time in the mediation, they are allowed to. Depending on if a party chooses to leave mediation, then it may be kept in a file as “mediated” or “not mediated”, but it will not be legally binded to them. The mediator would then commence the mediation. She may begin the mediation in a joint session, then move to a caucus, and then end in a joint session. She may go from caucus to a joint meeting in any order that she feels it is appropriate to get all parties on a mutual understanding. She may treat all mediations the same or she may choose to run them on a case-scenario basis. At the end of the mediation she may write up an understanding agreement for the two parties to read over and sign. This agreement would not cost either party money, punishment, or action. The parties may decide on their own to act on some kind of bridge building exercise together post mediation, but that is never required. Mediation can be a beautiful occurance because it brings people together and it creates a more understanding community. In the case of Swift, Nett, and the Beverly Hills Police Department, they may need multiple joint meetings of mediation because Nett was in jail for three days. It was later disclosed that the officers kept Nett in jail for three days because Swift had filed a restraining order on Nett years prior. The officers could explain that they had the best interest for Swift and that Nett was ultimately not charged for any crime because Swift chose not to do so. Nett and Swift could acknoweledge that the restraining order is a part of their past and they have learned to tell police officers that piece of information in the future. In the future, the officers could be more gentle or act more understanding to people of color and take more time to understand the history of racial profiling. The officers could also self-reflect and understand that if they are a white male then they may be perceived differently from other officers that come from different cultural backgrounds.
In another scenario, Author R.A. Thompson writes about a term called “driving while black,” which is a play on the term “Driving while drunk” which has meaning in the story. A young man driving a car was pulled over. The driver was annoyed because a highway patrol officer had been following him for some time. The young man pulled over and the officer followed behind. The young man got out of his car and went up to the window of the officer. He confronted the officer and asked why he was following him for so long. The officer did not answer his question and told him to get back in his vehicle and he did. While confronting the officer is not illegal, it is frowned upon, and especially on the highway. The young man may have felt uncomfortable for being specifically followed without a reason. The officer and the young man waited in their cars as two more police officers showed up to the scene. They went to the young man’s window and asked if he had been drinking or under the influencer, and he told them no. The officers completed sobriety tests and then set him free. He received no warning nor citations. In the perspective of a young black man, and with the history in America, it would not be far off for him to assume that he was pulled over because he is a black man; This goes back to being aware of how your culture could be a source of bigotry by other cultures. The author of this scholarly article writes,
“Given that the events which transpire during these types of interactions can be
symbolically interpreted in any number of ways depending upon one’s political ideology
or past experiences with law enforcement, it is important that scholars of police behavior
work diligently to alleviate the ever‐increasing level of tension surrounding the racial
profiling debate.(R.A. Thompson).”
Society holding everyone, and all cultures, accountable for ending these acts of bigotry is important. Just like a black man knows that his odds of being mistreated by police are higher, based off of past experiences, officers must be aware that young black men may be more aprehensive when talking to officers, they may be scared, they may have excess anger because someone they know was mistreated by an officer, or they may have read educational materials like Ghettoside. This is another example of a case that could be bridge building in mediation. The police officer could explain why he was following him, the community member could let the officer know how he felt being followed for so long without reason. The community member was driving a luxury Mercedez Benz automobile, perhaps this was an element that came to the officer’s thoughts while he was following the young man.
Ultimately, why do the number of black males in the general population differ so greatly to the black men that are incarcerated? The answer can be narrowed down to the deep rooted relationship between black men and police officers. The case of Bryant Tennelle collides these two parties. Tennelle’s case was one of the few murders in south LA that even made it in articles and television screens. Most black men of this area hardly recieve any awareness for these senseless homicides. This problem goes far beyond places like Los Angeles, such as Detroit and Chicago. The issues with officers are that they lack the funding for positive changes, like the racially motivated mediation process that left both parties feeling satisfied and understood. Police departments have out of date technology in some areas; They do not have the same resources that detectives do, so if a case goes without an in depth investigation it may never be solved; In a span of a year, and over 200 murders, that is a lot of money. In a case where a black man is treated wrong in the eyes of the law, whether wrongfully incarcerated, police brutality, or murdered with no justice: racial bigotry could be at blame. The last attribute that is a major issue with police officers, especially those deployed in south LA, is that they are surrounded by violence all the time. Being in disturbing scenarios, like witnessing a murder, changes the wiring of the brain. Police officers are selfless for sacrifycing their mental health in order to serve the people, but the effects of this trauma is something that psychologists can not fully understand yet. Without a full understanding of mental health, it makes clinically solving the issue hard. This is not an easy issue to resolve, as it should not be, with history full of unfortunate events agains black Americans. Every member of society can do their part in fixing this issue by educating themselves and reading journalistic masterpieces like Ghettoside. After people educate themselves, they should educate others. On the contrary, society can learn that not all officers are racist and evil. Some officers, like Wally Tennelle, grew up on the same streets where people ruthlessly or mistakingly get murdered. Taking the time to understand someone, taking the time to say “I am sorry”, and taking the time to take a moment to think before saying something that could be bigotry are all small measures that will make a huge difference in society and the all composing culture that is Los Angeles.
1) Bigotry Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bigotry.
2) Incarceration Trends in California - Vera Institute of Justice.
https://www.vera.org/downloads/pdfdownloads/state-incarceration-trends-california.pdf.
3)Leovy, Jill. Ghettoside: Investigating a Homicide Epidemic. The Bodley Head, 2015.
4)Leovy, Jill. Ghettoside: Investigating a Homicide Epidemic. The Bodley Head, 2015.
5) Leovy, Jill. Ghettoside: Investigating a Homicide Epidemic. The Bodley Head, 2015.
6) “Bryant Tennelle, 18 - The Homicide Report.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times,
https://homicide.latimes.com/post/bryant-tennelle/.
7)Leovy, Jill. Ghettoside: Investigating a Homicide Epidemic. The Bodley Head, 2015.
8)Hayes, Rob. “Beverly Hills PD Hit with Charges of Racism Again; Attorneys Call on State to Open Investigation.” ABC7 Los Angeles, 28 Oct. 2021, https://abc7.com/beverly-hill-police-racial-profiling-lawsuit-civil-rights-attorney-ben-crump/11174764/.
9) Thompson, R. Alan. “Driving While Black: Highways, Shopping Malls, Taxicabs, Sidewalks –
What to Do If You Are a Victim of Racial Profiling.” Policing: An International Journal
of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 24, no. 2, 2001, pp. 263–266.,
https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm.2001.24.2.263.1.
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