[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10786-S10787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   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

[[Page S10787]]

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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