Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Police Lockup Asian American Teens For 15 Hours Without Food Or Water

Stories like these serve as an unwelcome reminder as to why Asian Americans need to band together and speak out against the injustices deliberated upon them or any other minority. Adam Kim, an Asian American teen of Newark, NJ, is filing a civil suit against the Fort Lee Newark Police Department for unlawfully arresting him and violating his civil rights. Kim and a few others were held like hostages, locked inside a van for 15 hours straight in below freezing temperatures without any food, water or even a place to take care of nature's calling. Had a passerby not taken noticed of the boys locked inside the vehicle the next day, who knows what might've happened to them.

Source: Daily Mail Online

Reported by the Daily Mail, the incident occurred back in March, 2011. According to Kim, the officers "displayed a pattern of racial bias and/or indifference" by using racial slurs to reference Asian-Americans. There was an internal investigation but the department said that they did not find any evidence of malicious intent or discrimination. I'll take those findings with a grain of salt. Seriously, what police department is going to confess that they have a racist unit? Although the officers remain innocent until proven guilty, if what Kim alleges is indeed true, I would be deeply saddened, because entrust these individuals and depend on them to enforce the law, not violate it.


See?  Five-Oh can be sexy and cool. Source: TV Fanatic

I don't want to paint this ugly picture of law enforcement, because I know most of them uphold the law with the highest form of integrity. I've met some really awesome police officers, some who were very tough, but also fair and reasonable. But every so often a few rotten apples out there have to go and ruin it for the majority of them. Being a police officer ain't easy by any means. They're risking their lives everyday to ensure communities across America are safe and sound.


Remember This Guy?

Daniel Chong resorted to drinking
his own urine just to stay alive while
left unattended for 5 days in a cell.
This isn't the first time I've heard about cruel and unusual punishment against AAs. In May 2012, UC San Diego student Daniel Chong was left unattended for five days in a DEA detention cell leaving him on the brink of death. He was caught at a friends place celebrating 4/20 when the law enforcement raided the apartment, which isn't a squeaky clean story, but it doesn't warrant the DEA to detain someone without food or water for 5 days leaving them to drink their own urine! 

The DEA down in San Diego has since apologized. No word from the Fort Lee Department...yet.



1 comment:

Free your mind. The rest will follow...like your fingers.