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July 24, 2009
When an ID is not ID
When an ID is not ID
by Mecke Nagel
Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested at his own home in Cambridge, MA, after producing an ID to the police that asked him to show that he was lawfully at his own residence (what to do if one is subletting or house sitting and the owner is somewhere overseas and can’t be reached? Spend an indefinite time in county jail till the rightful resident can be reached?).
After producing TWO identification cards with photo and proper address, the police proceeded to arrest him, anyway.
What where they looking at? Why even bother to ask for an ID when confronting a person who happens to be of darker skin complexion in the USA? Does the ID warp into something else—an alien tool that strangers in this brave new world produce to trick the person who is sent to a location “to keep the peace”, or keep a lid on disturbances?
They were foremost looking at an “uppity black man” who dared to ask for his rights, for the officer to identify themselves. Oh, the subject dares to talk back and turn the gaze on the inspector who is asked to produce an ID!
“Look, a Negro”—the haunting (child’s) exclamation opening Fanon’s Black Skin White Mask is at the core of this gaze. And didn’t President Obama say that we are still haunted by race? It’s time to unmask the specters of whiteness, masquerading “objective” justice & the rights bearing subject and getting carte blanche (!) in judicial review. Such was the decision of the 9th Circuit court regarding an unjustified arrest of a Filipino American lawyer who produced an authentic 100 dollar bill and was arrested for doing so: "Although the arrest was unfortunate, we cannot say that the officers' belief that (the bill) was fake was plainly incompetent... The arrest, therefore, was not clearly established as unlawful." (Rodel Rodis, July 23, 2009 blog on his case “Rodis vs. City and County of San Francisco et al”). Rodis notes: “Instead of viewing the case objectively as they did earlier - whether under the ‘totality of circumstances’ the arrest was reasonable, the judges now applied the subjective test of whether the officers ’ belief that the bill was fake was ‘plainly incompetent’” (emphasis, MN). How ironic then that Sonia Sotomayor has been quizzed by senators whether she could set aside her subjective experiences as a Latina if confirmed to the Supreme Court. Such stringent standards do not apply to officers, who are vested with upholding the (white) supremacy of the law. As far as people of color in the US are concerned, Dred Scott (1857; annulled by 14th Amendment) still has a footing as “legal” precedence in the USA (being treated as chattel or private property and thus having no rights that a white man ought to respect).
In the words of a French philosopher one must say politely to Prof. Gates: “this is not an ID.”
Dr. Nagel teaches multicultural philosophy at SUNY Cortland and occasionally at area prisons and secure centers. She is studying penal abolition and African peacemaking approaches.
Posted by lois at July 24, 2009 09:26 AM