News
The Collegian: 4
November 8, 2021
Philadelphia bans minor traffic stops
A new act aims to reduce unnecessary interactions with the police that often go awry. Shelby Hiens Student Writer
Philadelphia’s city council passed the Driving Equality Act last month in a 14-2 vote. The law encompasses a set of bills aimed at removing negative police interactions and promoting trust in the police department. The first bill prohibits police from stopping drivers for seven types of low-level
traffic stops with the goal of healing policecommunity relations.” The law is set to go into effect 120 days after the initial signing. The law is supported by the city’s police department who are dedicated to making the necessary changes to police training. “We believe this is a fair and balanced approach to addressing racial disparity without compromising public safety,” the department said. “This modified enforcement model for car stops furthers the Department’s priority of addressing the issue of racial disparity in the Department’s investigative stops and complements the Department’s efforts to address these same issues in pedestrian stops.”
Black drivers accounted for 72 percent of approximately 310,000 traffic stops in Philadelphia from October 2018 to September 2019 while comprising 48 percent of the city’s population, according to the Defender Association of Philadelphia. This year, Black drivers have accounted for 67 percent of traffic stops while white drivers make up 12 percent. The association has projected that this initiative could result in 300,000 fewer police interactions a year.
Acting chief defender for the Philadelphia based association Alan Tauber described the legislation as a “great first step to building more trust between our police and communities of color.” Tauber added, “We’re hopeful that passage of the Driving Equality Bill is just the beginning of informed and meaningful conversations about positive changes to our justice system that will benefit all Philadelphians.”
“... the city’s police department ... are dedicated to making the necessary changes ...” traffic violations. Infractions such as broken lights, bumper issues, minor obstructions and license plates that are not visible are now considered secondary level traffic violations. Primary violations include actions which pose an imminent threat or safety risk to the public and are still subject to traffic stops. All secondary traffic violations remain illegal and will result in citations and fines issued through the mail. The companion bill requires police to record all traffic stop information in a public database. Mayor Jim Kenney approved the law and issued an executive order on Wednesday, Nov. 3. Kenney followed this with a statement, “This legislation establishes Philadelphia as the first large U.S. city to ban minor
The bill originated as a response to the settlement of Bailey v. City of Philadelphia, a federal class action filed in 2010 on behalf of eight African-American and Latino men who were “stopped by Philadelphia police officers solely on the basis of their race or ethnicity,” according to ACLU Pennsylvania. The lawsuit alleged that Philadelphia police officers are illegally stopping thousands of people to frisk and detain them. Minor infractions included in the secondary level of the new law have been criticized for acting as a guise for racially motivated traffic stops. “These bills end the traffic stops that promote discrimination while keeping the traffic stops that promote public safety,” the City Council said in a statement.
Missouri kidnapping case leaves questions The disappearance, followed by a complex investigation, has led to various rumors spread online. Logan Guthrie Sports Editor On Aug. 25, 33-year-old Cassidy Rainwater from Missouri was reported missing by her family. As of right now, no information regarding her current whereabouts or if she is even alive has been released. Two suspects have been apprehended and charged with Rainwater’s kidnapping. However, there have been several turns and speculations in the past month with this case that makes it appear to be much more than a kidnapping.
ton, the second suspect, who did not corroborate Phelps’ statement. In his first interview, the police found inaccuracies in Norton’s statements, who claimed that he did not live in the house with Phelps, but in his car working as an overload trucker. According to court records, the police followed up with Norton again the following day, when he admitted to assisting Phelps in restraining Rainwater, leading to their arrests. Another search of the house did not turn up any new evidence according to reports. The investigation has continued, however. Not long after his arrest, Phelps’ rent house in Lebanon was burned to the ground, and investigators have concluded it was the result of arson. A tripwire was discovered
“... Phelps’ rent house in Lebanon was burned to the ground ...” Around mid-September, an anonymous tip was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation containing photos of a partially nude woman locked in a cage. Upon seeing the photo, a Dallas County detective recognized the caged woman as being Rainwater. Not long after, a search warrant was issued for the phone of James Phelps, one of the two suspects and upon investigation one of the last people to see Rainwater alive. Seven more such pictures of Rainwater were found on Phelps’ device. Upon questioning in the initial stages of the investigation, Phelps confirmed that Rainwater had stayed with him at his house on Moon Valley Road. However, he claimed that she was only staying there until she could get back on her feet, and he had not seen her since she left his house in the middle of the night on July 25, the last confirmed sighting of Rainwater. The authorities left Phelps’ home after first searching the loft in which Phelps said the missing woman was staying. The loft appeared to be “stripped,” with no sign of any of Rainwater’s belongings. But Phelps was not the only person listed as living at his Moon Valley Road house. The police followed up with Timothy Nor-
by law enforcement, who alerted a local firefighter immediately. The fire was started by the discovered explosive’s controlled detonation by bomb squad professionals and no one was hurt in the process. A new Lebanon resident, Rachel Nicholson, spoke on the incident: “All a sudden, the house collapsed and the flames got bigger. We could feel the heat,” said Nicholson. “Everything was on fire, and we sat there and watched it collapse. I called 911 because I was worried about it catching the woods on fire and spreading to the other houses.” According to Dallas County Sheriff Rice, it is upsetting that misinformation surrounding the investigation has been passing around on Facebook and elsewhere. Such conspiracies include claims from an amateur blogger of reliable sources connected to law enforcement that confirm remains were found at the site of the fire that could be Rainwater. Others involve Norton and Phelps being involved in an extensive underground cannibalism ring in Missouri and ate Rainwater, or that police officers are being pulled off the case for leaking information. No reports have been made that corroborate such rumors at this time.
Representatives from Turning Point USA visited campus last Wednesday.
photo by Zach Short
Philadelphia is the largest city to implement these reforms as of yet.
courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Tulsa race demographics imply increasing diversity TU Professor Dr. Travis Lowe offers insight into Tulsa’s 2020 census data and critiques common conceptions of race. Julianne Tran Variety Editor Following the release of the 2020 census’ results, news articles emblazoned claims of dramatic shifting demographics. The phrase “majority-minority” and “less than 50 percent white” filled numerous headlines, hoping to draw eager and curious readers. However, these changes are not nearly as straightforward. Particularly in the city of Tulsa, the recent census results showed a stark shift in population. In the 2010 census, 57.9 percent of Tulsa’s population identified as white. The 2020 census shows that this percentage decreased to 48.5 percent, with less than half of the city’s population identifying as white. However, this one-to-one comparison cannot be taken at face value. Dr. Travis Lowe, professor of sociology at the University of Tulsa, discusses these population changes and the problematic portrayal of populations as “majority-minority.” Given that the 2020 census asked the question of race with a new write-in option, this change belies results and comparisons from past years. As Dr. Lowe explains, “When you provide a write-in option, that’s going to affect how the data is measured.” Because of this new mode of collecting data for the race question specifically, “it’s going to be a lot more difficult to make an applesto-apples comparison.” Particularly regarding the question of racial identity, Lowe explains that “The race variable is one that has received a lot of scrutiny over the decades. And then the big concern is that if and when we do change how this is measured, it is going to be more difficult to make those longitudinal comparisons.”
Dr. Lowe describes that someone who identifies as mixed race “could theoretically identify as one or the other depending on how the question was asked.” He continues by explaining that “Nowadays the color line is more fluid than it has ever been, because of the willingness of people to adopt these [multi-racial] identities.” Rather than thinking along the dichotomous white/non-white line, it is important to be attentive to this fluidity of racial identity. As opposed to emboldening claims like “majority-minority,” we must look beyond these outdated conceptions of race. Explaining the danger of phrases like “majority-minority,” Lowe explains his biggest concern that “it is easy to ‘other’ people that are in those nebulous, non-white categories.” These are people who “might have white ancestry or might even pass as white in their everyday life” but are “experiencing life differently than someone who identifies monoracially.” “Race used to be seen in an exclusionary sense, pick one or the other… [but] as our population is changing, people are more comfortable adopting multi-racial identities. They don’t have to not make that choice.” This cultural shift actually has a more “unifying effect” than phrases like “majority-minority” that may lend itself to polarization and fear from white populations that they are becoming less demographically dominant. Phrases like “majority-minority” misconstrue and force the data so that the white block appears smaller than it really is. In reality, those who had previously identified solely as white on past census questions, may now answer to be multi-racial. This narrowing of the data to show those who solely identify as white reflects an antiquated understanding of racial identity. Lowe describes the idea of the “onedrop rule” that reflects the statement: “if you have any non-white blood in you, then you can’t be white.” When you expand the lens to include those who identify as multiracial, and one of those races being white,
“‘... our population is changing, people are more comfortable adopting multi-racial identities.’” With this in mind, claims that Tulsa is now less than 50 percent white do not describe the full picture. The write-in option may have increased the number of people recorded in this new census data as identifying with more than one race. Indeed, as reflected in the national data, the aggregated 50 city populations gained nearly one million persons identifying with two or more races.
Lowe describes that this “makes situation seem [less] stark than it is.” This is not to say that the Tulsa population has not changed at all. However these changes are not as stark and straightforward as they appear, in the data and in recent headlines. Tulsa’s growing diversity cannot be captured in terms of white/non-white. It is seen in the fuller sense of deep, fluid racial identity. It is who we are, not who we are on paper.
courtesy Wikimedia Commons Tulsa’s recent census data showed a decrease in the proportion of those identifying as white.
