Reply #25: More on the black man frisking incident - The man was guilty of NOTHING.. just being black outside [View All]

http://www.aclu.org/police/abuse/14589prs20000710.html

Frisking Photo Puts Whitman on Defensive (7/10/2000)

TRENTON, NJ -- After enduring two years of criticism for the racial profiling practices of her state troopers, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has a new public relations problem, The New York Times reported: a photo of the governor herself, grinning as she frisks a black man.

According to the Times, the photograph was taken by a state trooper during a trip Mrs. Whitman made with officers as they patrolled in Camden, N.J. one night in 1996. The picture was obtained by The Associated Press and published in several New Jersey newspapers over the weekend.

It shows the governor patting down a man whose arms are splayed against a wall.

The symbolism of the photo and the facts of the frisking -- the man was stopped for "suspicious activity" but not arrested or found to be violating the law -- have drawn criticism from civil rights leaders who have long questioned Mrs. Whitman's sensitivity to inner-city residents.

Whitman told the AP that she regretted taking part in the frisk, and was simply trying to learn firsthand about the dangers that officers encounter in Camden, the state's most impoverished and crime-ridden city. Mrs. Whitman said she hoped that the photo would not overshadow the fact that in 1999 she became the first state official to acknowledge that state troopers were singling out minority drivers for traffic stops, and went on to overhaul the force to discourage discriminatory practices.

The timing of the photo's release -- three weeks before the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, just across the Delaware River from Camden -- could hardly be worse for the governor. Some of her supporters still hold out hopes that Gov. George W. Bush of Texas might choose her as a running mate, but Mrs. Whitman's close advisers say she is trying to position herself for a cabinet position or ambassador's post.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey are scheduled to meet this week to plan protests around the state, and they said they would also hold a demonstration after the opening ceremonies of the convention.