L.A. Times: Black drivers face more police stops

A new article in the Los Angeles Times provides hard, empirical evidence for something the Black community has always known anecdotally. Anita Chabria wrote:

Black drivers in some of California’s largest cities are stopped and searched by police at higher rates than white and Latino motorists, according to a new state analysis. 

The state Department of Justice report, released Thursday, found that black people accounted for 15% of all stops examined in California, though they make up only about 6% of the state population, according to U.S. census figures. White and Latino drivers were stopped at rates generally proportional to population estimates. Police were most likely to stop black men they perceived as being between the ages of 25 and 34.

The findings, the first scrutiny of racial bias in police stops released under a 2015 state law, appear to largely confirm what independent researchers and black drivers have long discussed: “Driving while black” represents an elevated risk of a law enforcement encounter. 

“The data released further verifies what we know to be true about racial profiling happening here in L.A. and throughout California by the police,” community activist Alberto Retana said. “People of color, especially Black people, aren’t surprised.”

Every week, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles works to demand accountability from law enforcement at Los Angeles Police Commission meetings, held almost every Tuesday at 9AM, 100 W. 1st Street in Los Angeles, CA.

If “driving while Black” feels like unequal protection under the law, join us in demanding answers.