His actions are what got him into trouble not his race.

I presume that’s a metaphorical finger you’re giving the cop, not your ‘papers’ ;-)
Ochlan on December 5, 2007 at 12:12 PM

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!

Can’t I just put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, hop in a cab and go to the airport with no ID in my pocket? As a matter of fact can’t I just live without an ID if I so choose?

Okay, this MAY be stretch, but when I lived in upstate NY in my teens, someone (maybe a LEO) told me that if you are over 21, you are supposed to have, on your person at all times, ID and at least $10 to prove that you are not homeless, or some such nonsense, otherwise you could be arrested for being transient. At the time, I took it very literally, but obviously as I got older, I question the validity of that memory. It would seem to be a good idea, to ALWAYS have ID, simply for accidental reasons. What if you are walking across the street and a vehicle hits you and renders you unconscious? Who they gonna call? You have no ID, no money, no way to prove who you are. So, although I condone LEOs asking for papers (hopefully for valid reasons), I also think it’s just a good idea to always carry ID.

King Downing said he was stopped and questioned by state police in October 2003 after arriving on a flight to attend a meeting on racial profiling.

Priceless! How hilarious is that? On his way to a meeting to discuss the very thing!

I’m all for any type of “racial” profiling, anything to make flying safer. As for the aclu, too bad. Too bad that the ISLAMOFACISTS, the MUSLIM FANATICS had to spoil the fun for everyone and put a cramp on our civil liberties. If they’d like to make it better, they should stop attacking their own country and it’s government and go after who is to blame for taking away the liberties of Americans.

VolMagic on December 5, 2007 at 3:53 PM

What?

What?

P.S. If you were a real libertarian, wouldn’t you support the right of the airport and its owners to enforce whatever level of security they want on their property?

Yes. I’d throw out the TSA monkeys and permit any passenger to carry a firearm with frangible ammo.

And you bet your ass I’d be racially profiling the sh!t outta everyone…in fact, I’d hire Israeli consultants.

SoulGlo on December 5, 2007 at 11:16 AM

oh please I am white in my 40′s and have a whole lot of tattoos some even on my head and I am always asked for id and the first questions I always get is “are you on parole” and quickly followed up by “when did you get out” so basically I am being profiled so when will the aclu sue for me oh wait I forgot its ok for me to be profiled but anyone else from some self perceived ethnic underclass is taboo.

“What’s wrong with LEOs checking IDs in a supposedly secure area? Got something to hide?”

“While we are at it, what’s wrong with the cops checking your papers anywhere?”

===

“Anywhere” is not “a supposedly secure area”. Are there no honest debaters left?

P.S. If you were a real libertarian, wouldn’t you support the right of the airport and its owners to enforce whatever level of security they want on their property?

factoid on December 5, 2007 at 1:50 PM

Come up for air! Asking for ID at an international airport is a long-long way from black helicopters loitering above your house! I am continually amazed that those afflicted with BDS can still function in our society.

Come on, guys, are there no libertarians left?

factoid on December 5, 2007 at 1:50 PM

I have never once claimed to be a libertarian.

What’s wrong with LEOs checking IDs in a supposedly secure area? Got something to hide?
Frozen Tex on December 5, 2007 at 12:54 PM

While we are at it, what’s wrong with the cops checking your papers anywhere? What’s wrong with The Man bugging your bedroom? Reading your mail? Listening to your phone calls? Searching your home (while you are not there, so as not to bother you)? What’s wrong with LEOs stopping you and asking you where you are going, how much money you have or whether you had sex in the past 24 hours? Got something to hide?

Come on, guys, are there no libertarians left?

- The guy was in an non-secure area of an airport terminal in the US of A and he was threatened with arrest for failure to show ID. Is it a crime not to have an ID in Massachusetts? Can’t I just put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, hop in a cab and go to the airport with no ID in my pocket? As a matter of fact can’t I just live without an ID if I so choose?

- Have you guys ever stopped to think how much security this ID-mania gives us? I’ll tell you how much: none.

I mean, every time I go to the airport, some guy checks to see if the name on my ID and the name on my boarding pass match. Given that I can check in online and get an easily editable PDF boarding pass that I then print myself, how difficult is it for Al Qaida to produce a matching ID/boarding pass pair?

Suppose the cop sees an olive-skinned guy eyeing him nervously while talking on the phone in the terminal. He asks the guy for an ID, upon which the guy whips out his Saudi passport (with a valid US visa in it, like the 9-11 terrorists). What’s the cop’s next move? He clearly can’t arrest the guy because the guy has done nothing wrong. So has checking his ID improved security at all? No, it just gives you a false sense of security.

Ochlan on December 5, 2007 at 11:16 AM

Dude, you are cruisin’ for a tasin’.

The ACLU: Fighting commonsense security measures since 9-11-01.

You’re about 40 years off there Bryan. The ACLU has been fighting commonsense security measures since their founding in the 60′s by an avowed Commie vermin.

I presume that’s a metaphorical finger you’re giving the cop, not your ‘papers’ ;-)

Ochlan on December 5, 2007 at 12:12 PM

What’s wrong with LEOs checking IDs in a supposedly secure area? Got something to hide?

The Campaign Against Racial Profiling is a project of the ACLU and is member of the Free Ya Hood Coalition. CARP has worked to end racial, ethnic and religious profiling through know your rights education and organizing. The Free Ya Hood Coalition is made up of CARP, Malcom X Grassroots Movement (MXG), Copwatch, Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC), Critical Resistance (CR), Independent People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM), and others. FYH works to organize the communities of color around police brutality through outreach, education and release of a mixtape/DVD with original tracks from dead prez, Immortal Technique, A-Alikes, John Legend, Jaguar Wright and others. The full-length DVD features dead prez’ arrest during a photo shoot, INPDUM’s organizing around the police killing of a DJ in a Brooklyn project, footage from Copwatch patrols, and hip hop surveillance.

Logan officials say race played no role in the decision to question Downing. The first trooper to ask Downing for identification was black, and three of the four officers who arrived later were also black, according to court documents. The first trooper said he became suspicious when he saw Downing watching him.

Umm… is the suggestion here that only black officers can confront a black suspect? Does the same hold for white officers and white suspects? I find it strange, if not unexpected, that PC-ification more often leads to race playing a larger role in decision making instead of a lesser role.

So, what does the ACLU headquarters in Washington D.C. say?

“We reserve the right to search all bags entering the building.”

Need I say more?

If you look for reasons to be offended 24/7, you’re always going to be offended.

see: Rangel, Sharpton