US Border Patrol lawsuit best explains the distrust of law enforcement within the Black Community

I have had many opportunities to try and explain why many in the African-America community have a distrust of law enforcement but were never really able to capture it before I read this article titled McGill student's run-in with U.S. border agents prompts lawsuit written by Benjamin Shingler for the Canadian Press.  I believe it captures the very essence of what many of us feel when it comes to trusting that law enforcement is here to protect us with the same vigor as they protect other races. 

The article centers around “a Montreal university student was detained at the U.S. border, held for several hours, interrogated, had his personal belongings searched and saw his computer confiscated for over a week.  What caught the authorities' attention? His doctoral research on Islamic studies, he says.

In a case that has attracted media attention in the U.S., Pascal Abidor has become embroiled in a drawn-out legal battle with the American government — and a poster child for civil-rights advocates defending the right to privacy and due process.  Abidor, a 28-year-old American and French dual citizen, was returning by train to Brooklyn in May 2010 when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent stopped him at the border in Champlain, N.Y.  The agent turned on Abidor's computer and found photos of rallies by the Hamas militant group. He says he explained that he had downloaded them from Google as part of his McGill University doctoral dissertation on the modern history of Shiites in Lebanon.  The agent also saw stamps in his passport that showed he had travelled between Jordan and Lebanon.  Abidor said the agents handcuffed him, took him off the train and kept him in a holding cell for several hours. He was grilled over his interest in Islam and past trips to the Middle East, before he was let go at the border.  When Abidor's laptop was returned 11 days later, there was evidence that many of his personal files, including research, photos and chats with his girlfriend, had been opened, he said.”

While I can see the purpose for the detention, I cannot condone the length of time and the embarrassment that he was put through especially if you consider that Mr. Abidor had committed no crime.  What really caught my attention was when I read the writer’s statement of “Abidor, who isn't Muslim, said the experience was eye-opening. It was the first such incident in the many times he had passed through the Canadian-American border.  In the days that followed, he had trouble sleeping and developed an "unhealthy mix of rage and fear”  This made me do a “retake” because it speaks as if this is an expected occurrence for Muslims crossing the border which in itself is just plain wrong.  As far as Mr. Abidor feelings of an unhealthy mixture of rage and fear, it will not surprise many who know that this is exactly how many in the African-American communities feel each and every day.  It’s rage when you are approached and treated as if you have committed a crime even though all you were doing is walking your dog.  It’s the same feeling driving your car, standing outside of your home or shopping at the local grocery store.  It’s a feeling of fear because somewhere in the back of your mind you can see them putting you in jail and forgetting all about you.  You see others getting help from top-notch legal firms like the ACLU while you are left with an over-burdened court appointed lawyer/ public defender.

Imagine the years that African-Americans have lived with this rage and fear which was shown no clearer than the recent replay of that classic show “To Kill a Mockingbird” which aired on USA Network Saturday April 7, 2012.  In this story a black man was accused of raping a white woman and even after his attorney was able to clearly demonstrate that he was innocent was still found guilty by the jury and later it was reported that he escaped and was killed.  While many might see that as just Hollywood, it has and continues to happen to this community in one form or another.  What is now clear to Mr. Abidor and will become clear to many others as time goes on is that this now can happen to anyone at any time regardless of race.  For all the ones who kept saying that this was happening but was often ignored, prepare yourself America for your own personal “eye-opener”.