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When an ID is not ID

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

When an ID is not ID by Mecke Nagel Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested at his own home in Cambridge, MA, after producing an ID to the police that asked him to show that he was lawfully at his own residence (what to do if one is subletting or house sitting and the owner is somewhere overseas and can?t be reached? Spend an indefinite time in county jail till the rightful resident can be reached?). After producing TWO identification cards with photo and proper address, the police proceeded to arrest him, anyway. What where they looking at? Why even bother to ask for an ID when confronting a person who happens to be of darker skin complexion in the USA? Does the ID warp into something else?an alien tool that strangers in this brave new world produce to trick the person who is sent to a location ?to keep the peace?, or keep a lid on disturbances? They were foremost looking at an ?uppity black man? who dared to ask for his rights, for the officer to identify themselves...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on July 24, 2009 (boomark / email).