UJIMA
Volume 1, Number 4
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
February, 1977
Police Harassment
Of Blacks In Westchester
by
Festus Brotherson, Jr.
and William Franklin
Editor's note: the parents of
Jerald Smith have for obvious
reasons , declined permission
for their son to be photo¬
graphed for this story.
In recent weeks, black people on
legitimate business in the vicinity of
Loyola Marymount University, have
been repeatedly harassed by pat¬
rolmen of the Los Angeles Police
Department. Recent victims include
seventeen year old Westchester
High School student Jerald Smith,
and Loyola’s Black Students’ Free¬
dom Alliance president, Julius
Jones.
We were the shocked witnesses
to the unprovoked humiliation of
Smith on Wednesday January 19.
Here are the facts: about noon on
that day we were on Sepulveda
Blvd. near La Tijera soliciting adver¬
tisements for UJIMA from busines¬
ses in the area. We had just ob¬
served a black youth who was sit¬
ting very composed and all by him¬
self waiting for the bus. All of a
sudden there arrived an L.A.P.D.
patrol car #83122. Out jumped two
white officers who immediately
pounced upon the youth. Not a
word was exchanged as the student
was grabbed, forcibly stood up and
spreadeagled, while one of the of¬
ficers frisked him from head to foot,
even passing his hands between the
youth’s buttocks! After being made
to suffer this humiliation in the pre¬
dominantly white neighborhood,
whereby now he ‘was the cynosure
of all eyes, Smith was then asked to
produce some form of identifica¬
tion. This he did but apparently was
being subjected to a barrage of
questions in a highly intimidatory
manner. At this time, we decided to
get closer to the scene in order to
hear exactly what was being said.
As we drew near, the officers,
who had observed us watching ear¬
lier from across the street, fixed us a
threatening glare. One growled bel¬
ligerently, “Can we help you?” One
of us responded, “No, I don’t think
so.” A pregnant pause followed and
finally, still glaring murderously, the
same officer gesticulated menac¬
ingly and said, “We’ll get to you la¬
ter.” We stood our ground.
An amazing scene then evolved
before our eyes. This same rude of¬
ficer began acting friendly towards
the student, who in turn became
noticeably confused by this de¬
velopment. The officer turned his
back to us so we could not properly
hear what was being said. And in a
further display of absurdity, he
placed his hand upon Smith’s
shoulder and proceeded to ‘rap’
with him. The other officer mean¬
while fidgeted uncomfortably
nearby. Abruptly thereafter with not
a glance in our direction, they
stalked away, entered the patrol car
and drove off.
Immediately, we approached
Smith who was obviously shaken
up and disgusted by the whole
episode. He told us he was a stu¬
dent at the predominantly white
Weschester High School, and that it
was the second time that week he
had been harassed by officers of the
Los Angeles Police Department. He
was particularly disturbed by the
fact that, on this occasion, one of
them had a mysterious card on
which he recorded a description of
Smith, and responses he made to
questions. We asked Smith if he
had been given any explanation by
the officers on why they had be¬
haved towards him in such an in¬
timidatory fashion. He said the of¬
FREEDOM
Those who profess to favor free¬
dom,
and yet deprecate agitation,
are men who want crops without
plowing up the ground
They want rain without thunder
and lightning
They want the ocean without the
awful roar of its waters
This struggle may be a moral one;
or it may be a physical one;
or It may be both moral and physical;
but It must be a struggle
Power concedes nothing without a
demand
It never did, and It never will
Find out just what people will submit
to,
and you have found out the exact
amount of Injustice
and wrong which will be Imposed
upon them; and
these will continue until they are re¬
sisted
with either words or blows, or with
both
The limits of tyrants are prescribed
by the
endurance of those whom they op¬
press
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
ficers told him that he looked like a
robbery suspect and they thought
he might be carrying sawed-off shot
guns and a pistol! As we looked at
Smith, we saw he was wearing
tight-fitting clothes including a
body-hugging leather jacket. He
carried no bag. His books were be¬
side him on the bench where he sat
waiting for the bus. Significantly,
the officers could not say when and
where any robbery had just been
committed and what articles, if any,
had been stolen.
We must make an observation
here. It is a well-known fact that of¬
ficers out to “have some fun” with
black dignity, always use the excuse
that the black person they stopped
for questioning looked like a rob¬
bery suspect. From direct experi¬
ence and observation, we know
that what qualifies a black man in
this city as a robbery suspect is the
color of his skin. And let us not hear
such balderdash that empirical evi¬
dence suggests that most crimes are
committed by blacks. Serious scho¬
larship has time and again de¬
bunked the validity of the specious
statistics of the police, and exposed
the whole problem as stark racism.
Let us only say here that it is com¬
mon knowledge that when white
juveniles are held by the police,
more often than not, they are
turned over to their parents for a
scolding. When black youths are
held, however, most times they are
handcuffed, taunted and harassed
on the way to jail.
The case of Gerald Smith is not
an isolated incident. We have heard
of other black high school youths
being similarly harassed • in
Westchester by officers who tell
them they are “only trying to pro¬
tect the neighborhood.” The cruel
irony here is that these same youths
are being taught in high school clas¬
ses on ‘civics’ to respect the law,
while it is the very enforcers of the
law who demonstrate to them its
invalidity where black people are
concerned.
Smith, incidentally, lives in
Baldwin Hills with his parents. His
father is a top civil servant with the
City of Los Angeles.
We called the Los Angeles Police
Department, reported what we had
witnessed, and asked to interview
the officers concerned. Instead, we
were treated to an impassioned de¬
fence on their behalf from the
supervising officer. We were not
surprised, because it is well-known
that as far as the police department
is concerned, their officers can
never be wrong when dealing with
black people. The supervisor then
reluctantly promised us an interview
with the culpable officers but, not
surprisingly, they have studiously
avoided making any contact what¬
soever with us.
The idea to have more police
patrols in the Westchester area is di¬
rectly attributable to Councilwoman
Pat Russell of the Los Angeles City
Council. Knowing this, we made a
complaint to her Westchester office
where we spoke with her represen¬
tative, Mr. Tom Moran. He admit¬
ted that the Councilwoman had
called for more patrols, but said she
was unaware of police misuse of
power. Mr. Moran has urged that
we send Councilwoman Russell a
formal complaint which can then be
sent to the Police Commission for
investigation. We intend to do just
that but, in all candor, we must say
we do not expect any significant
outcome. After all, are not officers
merely slapped on their wrists for
murdering black youths? What can
(Continued on Page 7)
Study Abroad Program Goes To Africa
by
Angela Parris
The Study Abroad Program of
the Continuing Education Depart¬
ment has initiated an intercultural
exchange program with Tanzania,
Ghana, and Kenya. This program
differs immensely from the former
ones. According to Jody Fisher, the
Director of International Education,
“Loyola’s major affiliation has tradi¬
tionally been with the Schiller and
related schools primarily in Europe.
Students travelled to Paris, Heidel¬
berg, London, and many other
major cities, throughout the conti¬
nent, in schools classified as Ameri¬
can Institutes of Foreign Study
(AIFS).”
These schools are pro-American
in format, i.e,,, English is spoken
and the quarter or semester system
is utilized. Fisher also added, “AIFS
schools, located throughout the
world, have their advantages and
disadvantages. Since they are struc¬
tured like American institutions, the
student has a greater variety of of¬
ferings whereby he may suit his
tastes to a particular program. In
this environment, a student finds
himself meeting Americans instead
of the native countrymen. This
makes the experience incomplete.”
The African program is classified
as Experiments in International Liv¬
ing and Study. It is one semester
long and functions as a live-in prog¬
ram. The student has a chance to
live with a family that has been
carefully selected for a given
amount of time. “Usually,” accord¬
ing to Ms. Fisher, “Families volun¬
teer their services. They will accept
no money because they strongly
support cohesive international rela¬
tions. In this environment, the stu¬
dent really becomes a part of
things.” The Experiments Univer¬
sities are located throughout the
world.
The student is eligible for a
maximum of nine units from LMU
as independent studies before he
leaves. The tentative schedules for
Tanzania and Ghana follow this
format:
WK. 1 orientation at the University
of Ghana.
WKS. 2-3 basics of the languages
are taught.
WKS. 4-6 introduction to the
people and their culture.
WKS. 7-9 residence in a family’s
home.
WKS. 10-12 a continuation of the
cultural seminars at the University.
The University Of Nairobi, Kenya
is similar to this structure. The stu¬
dent stays one semester (the equi¬
valent of 15 transferrable units).
There is a short orientation before
(Continued on Page 7)
Strong Education Today — Strong Minds Tomorrow
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