Highway Robbery Is Really A Mask For Highway Bigotry
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 7th, 2009
Sometimes I feel as if all I write about is the atrocities of the world. Yeah, I break it up with a little sex talk now and then or something funny and interesting or maybe even quirky….I mean c’mon, I have to lighten up – life can’t always be so serious and heavy or this girl is not going to be much fun.
I love the internet – it can be my BTF (Best Technical Friend)…delivering all of the goodies, but it is also the messenger for all of the maliciousness. At times I just want to focus on the good but that is not what is reality…it is just a part of reality. And the rest? Well….it needs to be exposed…people need to be exposed when they are intentionally trying to harm others. People need to be exposed when they are racist bigots. I feel that it is my duty as a citizen, a US citizen and a world citizen to blog about it….frequently. After all, it happens frequently….it happens EVERY day.
I found this article and it just goes to show you that OTW’s, 7 days a week, 365 days a year have to endure our racist country. I can not fathon for one minute what it is like to live with such racism. Please read.
The speed limit through the center of the tiny town of Tenaha, Texas is 35 miles per hour. I made sure when I drove there that my speedometer never even got to 36. Too many negative things have happened to too many drivers after being pulled over for infractions as minor as that.
The allegations against law enforcement people in Tenaha and in Shelby County, Texas are the kind of allegations you’ve heard about people in Cuba, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. People in charge are accused of manipulating laws, blackmailing, extorting, and not giving a you know what about civil rights and common decency.
Here’s the deal: at least 150 drivers, virtually all of them African Americans or Latinos have accused the town cops of pulling them over for minor infractions. Once pulled over, the drivers are often asked if they have money. If they say yes, these drivers tell us the cops start going through the car. If police find a lot of money, they are often arrested for money laundering, with no mention of any evidence other than the money. Once they are brought to jail, they find out about a proposed deal from the cops, and often from the District Attorney of the county.
The deal goes like this: We will not file charges against you, in exchange for leaving behind your money, and often your jewelry, and occasionally your vehicle too. Now, under Texas law, if you are pulled over and accused of a real crime, police are permitted to take money and other valuables that you might have used in your crime, or received from your crime. The idea is to stop criminals from profiting from breaking the law. But if charges are not filed, or you’re found not guilty, authorities have to get it back. In these cases that are now part of a class action lawsuit, “charges” are not filed, but the authorities keep the loot.
The dean of the Texas Senate, who is leading the fight to reform forfeiture laws, partly because he’s aghast at what he’s heard about in Tenaha says he is “shocked and angry.” The class action attorney says “it’s a shakedown; a piracy operation.”
And then there are the drivers whose lives have dramatically changed.
Roderick Daniels is a married father of four who lives in Memphis. He drove to Texas in 2007 after seeing a want ad for a 1972 Cutlass he wanted to buy. The seller wanted cash so he says he traveled with 8500 dollars. He tells us he was pulled over for going 37 in a 35 mile per hour zone, and then charged with money laundering.
He went to jail, frightened beyond belief, and was told he could go but his 8500 dollars would have to stay. He was also told while there that he should leave behind his jewelry, including a crucifix his late father had given him.
He went back to Tennessee without his money and to this day, has never received a letter, a call, or anything, about the “charges” against him. This is the standard method of operation according to the class action attorney. Other drivers we talked to with were with their children. They tells us they were told their children will be sent to Child Protective Services or foster care unless they too leave their money behind.
Indeed, we have acquired written waivers signed by the District Attorney which mention children will not be sent to Child Protective Services with the understanding that valuables will be forfeited.
So what do the police who do the pulling over and the District Attorney have to say about these very serious allegations? A lawyer for the DA says she denies “all substantive allegations… and that she is in “compliance” with the law.
The cop and others charged in the suit also deny the allegations in court filings. But we wanted to ask the DA and the cop about this personally. They would not return our phone calls, so we were forced to find them with the cameras rolling. Suffice it to say, they were surprised to see us.
Gary Tuchman
AC360° Correspondent (CNN)
Readers: I know you have something to say – blog me.
And I still have more to say too (!) I just noticed more comments came in…ah you readers do like to keep me busy but once again, I’ll read the rest later and make my comments tomorrow….sorry got to run!
Peace & Love: “Live it, Give it!”
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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May 7th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Hi Mischa, oh man, this goes on everywhere, doesn’t have to be little town USA, I know cops (they hang at my gym) in the beach cities that have said out loud that they’ll pull over an OTW ‘just to set an example’ – uh, an example of what exactly? Our intolerance? Our bigotry that an OTW would dare to enter our precious beach enclave? WTF? If an OTW so much as steps out of line here in ‘our’ beach towns, here’s what happens…repeatedly I see OTW’s sitting curbside handcuffed with 2-3 cruisers to boot. Would they ask a white guy they pulled over to sit on the f’in curb while they run their license and reg info? Doubt that very much. Are they extorting cash? That’s doubtful also but the embarassment of being put in their OTW place for a minor traffic violation repeatedly is probably detrimental to their collective OTW pysches, no? I know I cringe when I see it and I openly shake my head in that tsk, tsk, tsk kind of way at an offending cop if they are looking my way.
Dnsr! (or done-sir or is it dinosaur, whatever, it’s a pastime to decipher vanity license plates while stuck in traffic here in LA, it transfers here out of mind habit) – thank you, I’m glad my stories please you.
Molly, I read your comment and said awww out loud, but sweetheart, in my opinion, there’s no shame necessary though I understand that statement. Try looking directly into an OTW persons eyes with respect in your heart, they will feel it and know that at least there’s one less white asshole out there. Just my humble opinion.
Joel, go find Henrietta, she sounds like she’s totally hot for you : ) and what’s better than that??
Mischa, I love this blog, you know that, love the politics, the sex, the bantering, all of it…! Oh and you already know I love you, but can one ever hear that sentiment too much? NO. tee hee…
Have a beauty day, luv, Zen Lill
May 7th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Sorry ZL, I cannot reveal the secret meaning behind Dnsr! though I can tell you it has already baffled some of the most intelligent minds in the universe. I did attempt leaving a message for your Zen-highness on the subject du jour yesterday but found your site was impenetrable!
Not surprising about them extorting cash in Texas, pretty a third world country anyway except for Austin. Generally I’d recommend it as a flyover state whether OTW or not – probably more corruption there than all of Asia. But in this town the police force is a two man force and both are African Americans. The majority of the town is OTW and the law that allows for law enforcement to take money, property, etc from drug dealers is a legal there as in many states. Then there was the little ruckus about this black officer boinking the white daughter of a City Council member of Tenaha who was pissed has been trying to make his life miserable ever since. Check the local paper there for more info.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Dnsr! Well you can’t blame an inquisitive mind for trying, right? And I’m elevated in status to Zen-highness? wow, and I’ve been so working hard at reigning in my ego : )
Your comment on my post is approved.
I’ve mentioned it here before but I get upwards of 1500 spam comments a day after I did that one blog entry re: violence against women and included words that attracted spammers. Akismet software has not alleviated the problem so I have to ‘moderate’ and approve all comments. Sorry for the inconvenience. I am thinking of shutting this current blog down and starting over due to the traffic of spam, what a drag since I own the domain and all that goes with that, but I may have to if my IT dude can’t change it – and he has tried a few times.
I agree with you, it’s a great time to buy real estate, but who’s got the cash (exceept bils men/women as you stated)?
Caio, Zen Lill
May 7th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Dnsri, you are correct about the race of the two police officers of Tenaha. But the 147 stops and highway robbery of OTWs were not done by just two black police officers. Those stops were made by mostly white policemen looking to rob OTWs. I live in the town.
We whites make up just barely most of the population. But we make up 90% of the highest incomes of the people.
Zen Lill, in my business I experience the same conversations from not just the police in this town but just about every white person who participates in the functions that we congregate to have. We exclude OTWs so that we can be “honest” about Shelby county’s needs.
The DA of Shelby county is Linda Russell. She and a few others are just thieves. They have been preying on OTWs since their getting their jobs. This is as Michelle says racism and bigotry that allows individuals to use their governmental positions to prey on OTWs for profit and evil.
I like you Zen Lill am embarrassed by my race. But I unlike you cannot afford to stand up to the racists and bigots. I just can not afford to fight these people.
The thing not discussed is how many OTW lives are ruined by this abuse of police power. Many are sent to prison so that a white cop or official can brag or use money stole from them to buy an Ipod or his kid.
Innocent people are sent to jail by these racists. I am afraid to say anything because bigotry is lethal here. Nothing will be done. After the lawsuit. The DA will be reelected and their will be another scam to imprison, rob, or just insult OTWs because they can.
Saying that Tenaha has two black officers is like whites who say africans sold us slaves so slavery was not that bad. I am not accusing you of anything. I live in a glass house so I am the last one to throw stones at anyone. I just want to set the record straight. It is as usual whites who are robbing the OTWs that live here and who pass through our county.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Michelle, I found this article;
In July 2008, 10 plaintiffs filed suit in federal court against Tenaha and Shelby county officials, alleging that police officers had stopped them without cause and unjustly seized their property. The plaintiffs allege that officers threatened them with criminal prosecution if they did not cooperate. Officials named in the suit included Tenaha mayor George Bowers, deputy city marshal Barry Washington, and Shelby County district attorney Lynda Kay Russell.[10]
In March 2009 the plaintiff’s attorney Timothy Garrigan announced that he would seek class-action status for the lawsuit, citing a large number of similar reports from other alleged victims.[11]
The police said that they will return at least one man’s seized possessions, valued at around $8,500.[12]