You are either with them or on the White Supremacy Shit List. Actress Taraji Henson was on their shit list and apparently she is trying to work her way off. She has apologized for claiming her son was racially targeted by white Glendale cops during a 40 minute traffic stop last fall. After the incident occurred she vowed to send him to a Black college, Howard University in Washington D.C. instead of USC. "I’m not paying $50K so I can’t sleep at night wondering is this the night my son is getting racially profiled on campus.” That statement was much too much to take for racist white folks from an Emmy and Academy Award nominated Black actress on a highly visible tv show. She had to make up for that.  

So Henson retracted her accusations Friday, and publicly apologized to the Glendale Police Department. Sounding Hollywood scripted, the coin operated negro said in a post on Instagram, 

"A mother's job is not easy and neither is a police officer's. Sometimes as humans we overreact without gathering all of the facts. As a mother in this case I overreacted and for that I apologize. Thank you to that officer for being kind to my son." [MORE]

If you watch the entire 40 minute cop episode [below] you will know that this is idiotic. At best the stop was questionable and nothing to apologize about. But for real: the stop was all that; racist, arbitrary and unlawful. And she is wrong, a racist cop has a very easy job, especially if the people he victimizes go along with it. First a few preliminary matters. 

Have you checked your local traffic code lately? It is deeper than Atlantis - covering things you would expect like changing lanes without signaling to prohibitions on having items like parking stickers or scent trees hanging from your rear view mirror or tiny burned out light bulbs in your rear tag. "Very few drivers can traverse any appreciable distance without violating some traffic regulation." As pointed out by the Supreme Court, "total compliance with traffic and safety rules is nearly impossible, a police officer will almost invariably be able to catch any given motorist in a technical violation. This creates the temptation to use traffic stops as a means of investigating other law violations, as to which no probable cause or even articulable suspicion exists." The "multitude of applicable traffic and equipment regulations is so large and so difficult to obey perfectly that virtually everyone is guilty of violation, permitting the police to single out almost whomever they wish for a stop." [MORE] 

Since the 1980's police departments have co-opted local traffic codes as a major weapon to be used in the alleged "war on drugs." Making stops whose sole legal justification is traffic regulation in order to seek out drugs when grounds are lacking to detain for a narcotics investigation. [MORE]

Many folks have finally come to understand that the so-called war on drugs was/is really a war against Black people. Now that crime has significantly declined and the drug trade is far removed from the open air market, violent, Rayful Edmond money-making days of the late 80's - 90's, you can really see what these traffic codes are really about – fucking with Black people. Thousands of mostly white cops from overbudgeted police departments, armed to the teeth, bored out of their minds with no real crime going on, target Blacks - pulling them over for any insubstantial thing. With the "war on drugs" policy justification losing credibility, the racist logic is plain to see; "there is no innocent Black male, just Black male criminals who have not yet been detected, apprehended or convicted." [MORE]

Law enforcement officers are granted official, discretionary authority to stop you or not. Does the cop enforce the traffic code the same way on white people? In a system of vast unequal power between whites and blacks, what happens when white cops abuse their authority and arbitrarily target Blacks?? Are they any repercussions? 

As recent episodes in Ferguson and NYC have taught us in a system of white supremacy/racism you can be legally executed by a white cop anytime, anyplace in front of cameras and non-white witnesses. This same white cop also has the unconstrained and standardless discretion to pull you over and fuck with you too. Can he get away with it? What is white collective power? It is when a white cop pulls over a non-white person for some trivial bullshit, ignores all his rights (Constitutional, local and human) and his fellow white officers, white union reps, white media, white prosecutors, white judges & jurors and white politicians and voters support and finance that white officer's right to target you. How do we neutralize this vast unequal power that is racism/white supremacy? Police brutality is just a symptom of the problem. 

The white media has made much about Henson's apology. The 5 minute clip shown by the media is edited, chopped and de-contextualized and about as real as the programming on the show Empire -also made by white folks. If you have 40 minutes to kill watch the entire traffic stop and consider the following.   

Pedestrian was in the Middle of What Street? Why did the white cop pull him over for this nonsense? The cop says "she was actually like in the middle of the road there. I don't want you to hit someone." He then later repeats it to another officer, "the pedestrian was in the middle of the road." See above. Funny nonsense from an idiot. In a state of attachment to their racial stupidity, White folks see what they want to see. The pedestrian who looks like a white man, actually had one foot in the crosswalk and one foot on the sidewalk as he entered on the far right of the picture [see above]. For real, he pulled him over because he was Black and he was bored. Again, there is very little real crime going on - the cop is not in a rush to get to some real crime fighting; this is it. The LA Times wrote that Johnson's "race was not apparent in the video as he was driving." [MORE] How mindless of this white writer; the cop is watching him with his own eyes not through a cop dashcam lens.  

A Routine 40 Minute Traffic Stop for failure to yield to a pedestrian. Really? This is not "routine" for whites. For white folks, the bare essentials of a "routine traffic stop" consist of causing the vehicle to stop, explaining to the driver the reason for the stop, verifying the credentials of the driver and the vehicle, and then issuing a citation or a warning. Have a nice day buddy. 

For Black Folks the bare essentials of a traffic stop are a records check via radio or computer regarding the criminal history of those stopped and any outstanding arrest warrants for those individuals; (2) interrogation of those stopped directly on the subject of drugs or about the nature and purpose of their travels; (3) seeking (and often obtaining) consent to conduct a full search of the stopped vehicle and the driver/passengers; and (4) using a drug-sniffing dog to detect the presence of any drugs in the stopped vehicle. Don't believe BW? Go out tonight and drive around for an hour. Most likely, you will see this identical scene. All Black men who drive on a regular basis are being pulled over because they are Black (not because of their so-called class - like this wealthy kid. The LA Times should have said the white cop could not tell what "class" he was!). No need for statistics, ask a Black man. 

Are the Cop's Questions Related to the Purpose of the Stop - for Failure to Yield to Pedestrian? No. In general the Supreme Court has said an officer may only ask questions concerning the purpose of the stop and related to the investigation of the stop. But even when unrelated questions are permissible it is unconstitutional for the cop to ask questions which would allow the detainee to give an incriminating answer or which would lead directly to a search. Which is exactly what the white cop does here - so politely too. After the cop takes his license and registration and before he leaves to go do his records checking, he says "Do you have anything illegal in the car?" He is practicing racism. The cop is told he has a little bit of marijuana. Then the searches begin. 

Is there Any Reason for the Cops to Believe He is Engaged in Crime? He is pulled over for failing to yield to a pedestrian. The first things he asks Johnson are "where are you going?" "how old are you?" "have you ever been arrested before? are you on parole or on probation?" Then the cop asks again, "are you sure you've never been arrested? so when I go back and run your name its not gonna come back that you have been arrested right?"  Do you think he asks white men and women this question? The cop has been given no reason to believe that this young man is engaging in crime. Failure to yield is not conduct related to criminal activity or any criminal record. It is just more stupid questioning unrelated to the stop, probing him and unlawfully prolonging this detention. Courts have said that a criminal record, even if previously denied by the violator, counts for very little but yet may lead to interrogation that is "intense, very invasive and extremely protracted." [MORE] And that must be the point. 

The warrant check and awaiting the return are also not activities that are directed at resolving the traffic offenses which authorized the stop in the first place." The "scope of a lawful, routine traffic detention should be limited to what is necessary to investigate the traffic infraction itself." [MORE] Who cares about legalities anyway? Like an officer says on the video 'our judges won't throw it out!'

"Ve vant to zee your papers." Nazi style. The cop is also intrusively wanting to know "where are you going? where are you coming from what are you doing tonight?" Again this has nothing to do with a failure to yield ticket. Probing, investigating him looking for an inconsistent, weird answer that might raise suspicion to broaden and justify further inquiry. People say all the time - you can refuse to answer the cop's questions. Easier said than done in the present moment of a one on one encounter with a cop. Even the most knowledgable advocate or judge may only "react"  and not respond in this racist moment. [MORE] And, when is the last time you did that for real? This is just coercion; the cop has his shit - his license and registration and it is clear that he is not free to go. This young man in a state of forced control probably is probably only reacting robotically in this valley of decision and is already programmed to say things not in his own self interest - and that is the cop's objective anyway. [To his credit and contrary to what the LA Times implied Johnson never voluntarily mentioned anything about the celebrity status of his mother]. 

Looking for one pill of Ritalin in the trunk? After asking him an incriminating question unrelated to the stop, the tricky, yet polite, cops get their "legal justification" for searching the car, his person and his backpack for a small amount of marijuana - which these dumb mf's never even found.  Johnson found it for them in his bag and voluntarily gave it to them. Was the search of the trunk a new search requiring a new legal justification? Cops claimed to be looking for one pill. One pill loose in a trunk? Definitely sounds like more bullshit - but not to the white media of course. After ransacking the trunk the cops also never found any Ritalin. They found some Claratin. Oh well bro. Here, this "consent inquiry" of "do you have anything illegal in the car" went way beyond the scope of the initial reason for traffic stop - at least by white folks standards as they apply the Constitution to themselves. Ransacking his trunk while he watches on the side of the road "is [also] highly invasive of the dignitary interests of individuals." [MORE]. But what to expect from racist suspects? 

Why did the cops subject him to field sobriety testing? Not shown on the dashcam another white cop pops up (among others who are also appear bored and out patrolling for non-whites no doubt) and makes Johnson do field sobriety testing - which usually consists of an eye or HGN test, the one leg stand test and the walk and turn test. Where was the evidence of impairment to justify the administration of these tests? In the video Johnson drove an appropriate speed, properly signaled to change lanes, responded immediately to the cop's signal to pull over. He did not straddle or drift in the lane and pulled over properly to the curb. He speech was not slurred or inarticulate, he did not have any unusual trouble providing documents to cop, he responded appropriately to several questions, he complied with orders without hesitation, he had no problem exiting the car, balancing and walking to the curb when ordered to do so. Importantly the cop who made the stop never requested an alcohol certified officer to the scene. In other words, there appeared to be no 4th Amendment basis to order him to do field sobriety testing - at least as the 4th Amendment is applied to white folks. He passed the FST's - there was no evidence of impairment because he was not impaired.

He was Polite. Yes and that too is used as a tactic by cops.  The white cop's tactic is too make the entire unlawful stop and search seem as routine and natural as possible. Talking about "hey man," this and that. Cops are also prone to say, "I just have a few questions to ask, " "if you comply things will be fine," "this won't take long and you'll be on your way," "you should make things easy," "just one more thing" and other phrases could be signs that a white cop is getting ready to practice racism on you like he did on Johnson. Never take legal advice from cops while they are doing their job - investigating you, looking for a problem. 

In the end these dummies finally figured out they had not pulled over a drug kingpin. After interrogating him, searching him, his bag and car, FST testing him and terrorizing him the white cop gives him "a break" by  letting him go with a traffic ticket and marijuana citation for possession. Thanks master. 

At its core the 4th Amendment is not about manners, politeness and respect. It is trickery to even conceive of your so-called rights in this manner. The Supreme Court has explained that the "central concern of the Fourth Amendment has to do with protecting liberty and privacy against arbitrary governmental interference." In the context of the traffic stop the 4th Amendment is said to "protect the travelling public from arbitrary action." [MORE] We know this is illusory nonsense when it comes to non-white people. 

Don't play yourself with this "respect" nonsense. Neely Fuller said if you want some respect look in the mirror and give yourself some. Did cops respect Taraji Henson's son's 4th Amendment rights? Does stop and frisk or "papers please" become less Unconstitutional because a white cop is polite as he stops you for an arbitrary reason? It is a tactic of white supremacy to give you something you already have and pretend it is something new. Steve Cokely calls this, "whitenology." He says "never play for your own sandwich." Cokely is referencing the old Larry Bird vs. Michael Jordan McDonald's commercial wherein they play each other for a sandwich - Michael Jordan's sandwich. Jordan walks into the gym with his bag of food that he just bought. Bird challenges him to a game of one on one basketball; if Bird wins he gets Jordan's sandwich -- and if Jordan wins then he gets...? 

An Overreaction? When will We Respond? The white media has shadowboxed Ms. Henson using her to send us the message that we also may be overacting to the conduct of cops and that this traffic stop is normal and routine -- so that when it happens to you it should appear natural to you - and not what it really is; racist bullshit. That is a goal of the white media, to make white people's domination and control over all things involving non-whites seem natural [MORE] enabling you to participate and cooperate with your own subjugation - like Taraji Henson. Racists depend on this reaction from us.  

Amos Wilson explained, "power ultimately has to do with a relationship between people, and the white man’s so-called power, is to a great extent based upon the nature of the relationship he has with the Black man. We empower him by the nature of our own behavior and attitudes as a people. He cannot be what he is unless we are, what we are. To a good extent, the European is our creation. If we look at our behavior, we will see that to a good extent, it is our behavior, our values, our consciousness, the kind of personalities we’ve established in ourselves, our taste, our desires and needs; that maintains the European in its position." [MORE]