The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRAFFIC STOPS STATISTICS STUDY ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S10786-S10787 on Oct. 19, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAFFIC STOPS STATISTICS STUDY ACT
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise to speak for a few moments about the subject of race in America. I want to speak today about how sometimes it seems that whites and African-Americans are living in different Americas. And I want to speak about how we still need to do more to see that we become one America.
There is a movie playing now in the theaters called Remember the Titans. That movie depicts how there were two Americas, not that far from here, not that long ago. It depicts the great civil rights struggle of school integration, through the lens of a high school football team in 1971, at T.C. Williams High School, just across the river from here in Alexandria, Virginia.
The film stars Denzel Washington as Herman Boom, who became head football coach at all-white T.C. Williams High School, when it was just beginning to integrate. Although some in the white community in Alexandria did not welcome integration, in the film, Coach Boom steps into this tempest, and teaches the players and coaches to overcome racial prejudice. He teaches the players to respect each other and to work together as a team, regardless of the color of their skin. In the end, the team conquers racial barriers and goes on to win the state championship. Titans teaches us that we must be willing to confront our prejudices, so that we can build a better America, together.
Since 1971, we have made significant progress in public education. But we still have a long way to go. And we are still failing in other areas, like the treatment of African Americans and Latino Americans by law enforcement agencies. They have become the targets of racial profiling. It is time for us to confront our prejudices, to address racial profiling.
White Americans have not had similar experiences. We live in a different America. We won't be stopped on the side of the road, at the airport, or while walking through our neighborhoods, based on the color of our skin. We live in an America where we are free to move about. But African Americans, Latino Americans and Americans of other racial or ethnic groups do not live in this same America. They live in an America where they do not have freedom of movement. When it comes to the enforcement of our laws, they surely live in a completely different America.
Mr. President, racial profiling is a terrible practice. It's unfair, unjust and un-American. It should be thoroughly reviewed, so that we can determine how to end it.
Mr. President, racial profiling casts its net so far and wide that its victims include Americans regardless of their education, wealth, or status. Just last month, that net caught Bob Nash and his wife Janis Kearney, both very high-level officials at the White House. Montgomery County police in suburban Washington pulled over Mr. Nash and his wife, who are both African American. The officers drew their guns. The officers asked them to step out of their car. And the officers handcuffed them.
Why? Well, as far as I can see, the only thing that they were guilty of doing was ``Driving While Black.'' They were stopped, questioned and handcuffed for no apparent reason other than the color of their skin. This is an outrage for Mr. Nash, Ms. Kearney, and all Americans who live in a nation that guarantees liberty and justice for all.
At the end of last month, the San Diego police department released a study of traffic stops that found its officers are more likely to stop and search African and Hispanic Americans than whites and Asian Americans. And earlier this month, according to a story that appeared on the front page of the New York Times, a Federal investigation of the New York Police Department's Street Crime Unit determined that its officers engaged in racial profiling in recent years as they conducted their aggressive campaign of street searches in New York. More and more the evidence mounts.
African Americans and other minority Americans have been on the receiving end again and again, of this horrendous practice. It is intolerable. And it screams out for action by the Federal Government. The Senate should take the first step toward ending this terrible practice by passing S. 821, the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act.
This bill was introduced in the House by Representative John Conyers and in the Senate by my distinguished colleague and friend from New Jersey, Senator Lautenberg. I commend them for their leadership on this issue, and I am proud to have been able to join them in this effort.
The Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act would require the Attorney General to conduct an initial analysis of existing data on racial profiling and then design a study to gather data from a nationwide sampling of jurisdictions. This is a reasonable bill. It simply requires the Attorney General to conduct a study. It doesn't tell police officers how to do their jobs. And it doesn't mandate data collection by police departments. The Attorney General's sampling study would be based on data collected from police departments that voluntarily agree to participate in the Justice Department study.
In fact, since our traffic stops study bill was introduced in April 1999, we have already seen significant, increased recognition in the law enforcement community of the need for and value of collecting traffic stops data. Over 100 law enforcement agencies nationwide--
including state police agencies like the Michigan State Police--have now decided to collect data voluntarily. Eleven state legislatures have passed data collection bills in the last year or so. So this is tremendous progress from where we were when the bill was introduced. I applaud those states and law enforcement agencies that are collecting data on their own.
But more can be done. And more should be done. Indeed, the state and local efforts in this area underscore the need for Federal action. Not all states and law enforcement agencies have undertake data collection efforts. A Federal role is critical for Congress and the American people to understand the extent of problem nationwide. This effort can lay the groundwork for national solutions to end this horrendous practice.
Mr. President, I certainly believe this is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Governor George W. Bush supports data collection. During the second presidential debate, he said, ``we ought to do everything we can to end racial profiling.'' He also said, ``we need to find out where racial profiling occurs.'' His own Department of Public Safety in Texas has begun collecting data. And Vice President Gore, as well, has been a forceful leader on the issue. All Americans can agree that racial profiling is unfair and unjust and that we need to better understand the scope of the problem.
Our Nation has come a long way in the struggle to live up to its highest ideals of liberty, justice, and equality for all. Congress, historically, has played a critical role in addressing racial discrimination, through legislation that grappled with civil rights issues like voting rights and employment discrimination. Americans are once again calling on the Congress to combat racial discrimination. With this legislation, we can take a step in the right direction, a step closer to becoming truly one America.
I urge my colleagues to support the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act, and to back its enactment this session.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SESSIONS. I thank Senator Feingold for his concerns about civil liberties in America. It is important for us to give great attention to these issues. Police need to be constantly reminded of their responsibilities.
I was a prosecutor for nearly 18 years full time. I have dealt with police. I remember clearly the policies for years against racial profiling. The law is against that. One of the most famous cases was 25 or 30 years ago, when an immigration officer stopped some individual in a car and arrested him for being an illegal alien. When he asked why he stopped him, he said he had a ``psychic feeling'' that there was something wrong there.
The court said no. A psychic feeling is not good enough. A racial profile is not good enough. You have to have an articulable basis to make a stop.
But we do not want to suggest, in my view, that this is a routine thing in America. Police officers I know, and the Federal agents I know, are very sensitive about these issues. They have been trained about them. They know precisely what they have to do. It almost takes a law degree to know what to do, but they know precisely how and when they can make stops and when they cannot. I believe consistently they follow those rules.
I know Vice Presidential candidate Senator Lieberman, in one of his debates, said that he knew someone who had been stopped, an African American, a Government employee. He described that he was offended by it. But the local police said, when they were asked about it--the local police said he was stopped because the car matched perfectly the description of a stolen car. When they stopped it, they did not even know whether the driver was white or black. They were just doing their job. It was not a racial profiling.
So we need not to go too far, suggesting this is too common. I do not believe it is. I think it may happen and it should not happen. It is against the law. It is not proper, and arrests and matters rising from it should not be justified.
I appreciate Senator Feingold's interest in making sure the law is properly followed.
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