RACIAL PROFILING
Demanding Black People Show Free Papers is More Than a Past Tradition
The connection between “free papers” and stop-and-frisk
Imagine living in a society where, just by virtue of your skin color, you’re freedom is questioned. That’s the harsh reality of being Black in America. During chattel slavery, Black people had to carry “free papers,” which they had to show to slave patrols to prove they had the right to travel freely. And even these documents didn’t guarantee their liberty would be respected. The story of Solomon Northup, a Black man born free in Minerva, New York, is a prominent example. White men took his free papers away and sold him at a New Orleans slave market. This practice is mirrored in today’s society, as Black people are routinely stopped and asked to show identification, even when they’ve committed no crime. In America, someone is supposed to be presumed innocent unless proven guilty. However, that trend moves in retrograde when it comes to Black people.
Today’s version of “free papers” takes the form of stop-and-frisk policies that facilitate the over-policing of black communities under the pretense of public safety. An officer can stop someone who “looks suspicious,” yet our society seems unwilling to unpack the implications of that subjective standard. To a…
