Oscar S. James II’s Story

In April 2008 Oscar James, a twenty seven year old African American Councilman from Newark, NJ, along with five other adults and five teenagers traveled to Louisiana to volunteer their time in a week-long Habitat for Humanity program. One of the purposes of the group’s trip was to show the residents of Louisiana that the rest of the country had not forgotten about them or their flood-damaged homes. While in Louisiana, Councilman James and the other members of his group worked in St. Bernard Parish replacing the roofs of homes damaged by Katrina and its aftermath. All members of Councilman James’ group of volunteers were people of color. Unfortunately, in addition to sampling Louisiana’s famous cuisine and meeting many wonderful community members, the group also learned firsthand about the reality of racial profiling in Louisiana. On April 11 during the group’s lunch break, their rented minivan was stopped by St. Bernard law enforcement for an alleged traffic violation. Instead of speaking with the driver about the alleged violation, the officers ordered two passengers, including Councilman James, out of the vehicle. The police then patted down the two men and searched the car. Nothing illegal was found in the car and nothing illegal was found on the bodies of the two men. When the police instructed Councilman James to remove all sharp objects from his body, Councilman James emptied the nails he had been using to repair roofs from his pockets.When he did so, police officers charged him with littering.

Councilman James was racially profiled. We believe that the car Councilman James was riding in was pulled over and searched because it was carrying several black people, not because of a traffic violation. Councilman James was ordered out of the car and patted down because he was a black man wearing informal clothing. In New Jersey Councilman James is a respected elected official, yet due to the color of his skin, when he came to Louisiana he was treated as a presumed criminal.

Source: Unequal Under the Law: Racial Profiling in Louisiana by ACLU Louisiana (August 2008)