When ‘walking’ becomes a criminal act

By Marjorie R. Esman
Guest Columnist

We all know that African Americans are stopped, arrested and convicted in numbers that can only be called inhumanely disproportionate. This isn’t news. Now, though, even walking in the street can get a person arrested or worse. The recent killing of Michael Brown, an African-American youth in Ferguson, Missouri by a white police officer may be an extreme case, but it highlights the level of tension and lack of trust that exists between African Americans and the police across America; a lack of trust due, in large part, to this very arbitrary abuse of power over infractions that are so minor they almost defy classification.

Ferguson, however, is not the only community at odds with itself over local law enforcement’s handling of this issue. The police department in Flint, Michigan came under scrutiny last year for not only stopping people for walking in the street, but using the opportunity to search and eventually arrest people for other infractions, like simple drug possession.

This problem exists much closer to home. Just last month, the Shreveport Times reported in an article that “Echoes of Ferguson” were visible in this Northern Louisiana community. In the article by Times writer, Maya Lau, she reported that 276 people had been ticked or arrested in Shreveport for walking in the street since January 1, 2011. Of that number, 93% were Black, a resounding majority of them, Black males. These percentages were virtually unchanged since a similar analysis was done in 2005. Shreveport Police Chief, Willie Shaw wouldn’t comment on the Times’ findings, but in a prepared statement department said, “Bookings are sometimes necessary if there are reasonable grounds to believe a person will not appear in court after receiving a ticket, will cause harm to themselves or others or will continue the offense.” This somewhat specious statement did little to assuage the resentment of local African-American residents. May­or Cedric Glover added that the high number of street citations in predominantly Black neighborhoods could be attributed to higher amounts of complaints coming from those areas about people in the street, many of them blocking traffic. Of course, someone blocking traffic isn’t necessarily a harm to himself (it’s almost always a man) or others, nor is he likely to refuse to appear in court. Complaints from certain areas might justify the citations, but they don’t justify the arrests.

The larger question is why walking in the street should be an arrestable offense in the first place. There are legitimate public safety reasons to prohibit that activity, particularly where sidewalks are available. Obviously both the pedestrian and others are at risk when people walk in the street. Still, a simple citation seems a more fitting penalty than an arrest for such a minor infraction. In fact, many of those stopped in Shreveport weren’t even aware that it’s illegal to walk in the street. And even the mayor acknowledged that many sidewalks in Shreveport are in poor condition leaving people with no real option.

Regardless of circumstances, most legitimately feel that being arrested for such a minor infraction is taking it too far, and the particular targeting of African Americans is obvious and must stop. Just as in Flint, the risk here in Louisiana is that these stops will be used as pretexts to arrest and abuse those who are doing nothing seriously wrong. Ola Mae Kelly sued the city of Shreveport for brutality after being stopped and beaten by a police officer in 2010 for walking in the street. The officer was eventually fired and Kelly settled with the city of Shreveport out of court. But that clearly should not have happened, and if walking in the street were a civil infraction and not a criminal offense, it probably wouldn’t have. Ms. Kelly’s case brings us to a point we all understand…the bottom line. This abuse of power by law enforcement always costs more in the end, either through lawsuits like Ms. Kelly’s or through the general waste of resources. In the end the taxpayers foot the bill, and the people suffer the consequences. While officers waste time writing reports, and attending court because someone walked in the street, that time isn’t being used to fight more serious crime and conduct meaningful investigations. Yet we wonder why America’s jails and prisons are bloated, requiring the support of equally bloated budgets. If we would simply focus on making the punishment fit the offense, the system would work much better.

It took Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson to thrust this issue into the spotlight, and it shines as another symptom of a broken criminal justice system. It’s time for everyone to speak out. Your local and state officials, your D.A.’s and Sheriffs, and everyone else who represents you must hear from you if things are to change. If any good is to come of the senseless death of Michael Brown, let it be that the people of Louisiana insist on reform.

This article originally published in the September 8, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.