The Journal does a little investigative reporting and concludes that minority drivers are pulled over by Winston-Salem police for minor traffic offenses at a higher rate than whites. WSJS is eating it up, running with the report during newsbreaks. In reaction, City Manager Lee Garrity has ordered an internal review of the situation.
Never mind that we’re talking about traffic stops here. Any story on race in Winston-Salem has to have a reference to Daryl Hunt:
Garrity’s request for an internal review comes just three months after the police department was ordered to undergo diversity training.
On Feb. 19, the city agreed to pay Darryl Hunt $1.65 million in restitution for his wrongful imprisonment in the 1984 murder of Deborah Sykes. The same day, the city issued a report that highlighted how the police department’s botched investigation led to Hunt spending more than 18 years in prison.
The report did not make any conclusions about whether Hunt was targeted because he was black, but it made several recommendations aimed at preventing similar cases. One of the recommendations was for police officers to get diversity training.
Kind of an apples-to-oranges comparison, isn’t it, considering the fact that a murder was committed in Hunt’s case.
Interesting, too, is the treatment Winston-Salem city council member Vivian Burke received when she was pulled over, in contrast to the Dianne Bellamy-Small traffic stop here in Greensboro:
Burke, a black woman, was also reminded of her own nighttime traffic stop. License and registration: She handed them over.
It wasn’t until the police officer looked at the name on the license that he realized that he had pulled over a member of the city council. Meanwhile, another officer was walking toward the car.
“Hold, hold on. This is Mrs. Burke, this is Mrs. Burke,” the officer said, she recalled.
Minority traffic stops have been part of the media template (to quote Rush Limbaugh) seemingly forever. I’m not sure what the Journal hopes to accomplish with this story. Winston-Salem could be the most politically-correct city in North Carolina, and that’s saying something. It has an African-American female police chief and a police department that’s been under intense scrutiny for some time in the wake of the Hunt case.
