ACLU Files Racial Targeting Suit: Mississippi Troopers go on Warrantless Search & Detain Black Graduate Students

Many Black people like to think of themselves as middle class, and therefore, distant from things like police oppression. This preferred version of reality is illusion. In the world 'as it is' a more appropriate description is Powerless Class.

From [HERE] The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the state Department of Public Safety on Friday, alleging racial profiling and constitutional violations in an August 2012 incident.

The suit wsa filed on behalf of Raymond Montgomery and Cathryn Stout, a doctoral student at Saint Louis University in Missouri. Montgomery and Stout, who are both black, were stopped by a trooper with the Mississippi Highway Patrol on Aug. 8, 2012, on I-55 South just north of Jackson, for having an Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. sorority license plate holder, according to a release from the ACLU.

When the two refused to consent to a search of the vehicle, the officer called his supervisor to assist on the scene. Three troopers then went through Montgomery’s and Stout’s luggage and dismantled interior door panels.

“I was stunned and humiliated by the treatment that we received by the Mississippi Highway Patrol,” said Montgomery. “We hope that our speaking up can help make sure this does not happen to anyone else.”

At one point Stout said she was told to stop filming the search on her cell phone, a demand she said she followed for fear of being arrested. The ordeal took an hour, after which the troopers sent the couple on their way without a ticket.

“Ironically, the entire purpose of my visit to Mississippi was to document the positive strides the state has taken to combat negative stereotypes,” Stout said. “Unfortunately, my experience with the Highway Patrol revealed a much different picture.”

“This is one of many complaints that our office has received regarding the Mississippi Highway Patrol,” said Bear Atwood, legal director for the ACLU of Mississippi. “We hope that this suit will cause the Department of Public Safety to take a serious look at its policies and practices, which result in frequent violations of motorists’ civil rights and civil liberties.”

The suit alleges that MDPS, which oversees MHP, and the three troopers involved in the incident violated Stout’s and Montgomery’s Fourth Amendment rights by engaging in an unconstitutional stop and search, their rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by racially profiling them, and Stout’s First Amendment rights by prohibiting her from peacefully filming the search, from a distance, with her cell phone camera.

The suit also alleges that MDPS violated Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964 by permitting its troopers to engage in racial profiling.