Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 17, 2015

What about the Asians?

Some things never change. Or they just might drag him outta there and shoot him as he reaches for his wallet.

The policeman’s either carrying a huge hog-leg pistol or an over-under shotgun. He’s ready for a little resistance.

The cop seems fatter in the first two panels.

Things definitely don’t change.

This strip was published 30 years ago and, sadly, is all too relevant today.

Uh-oh, he’s resisting arrest. I guess they’ll just have to use deadly force.

Amazingly enough, the program is still in effect:

http://www.townofpalmbeach.com/DocumentCenter/View/566

Plus ca change, plus c’est le meme chose.

In many of the larger cities in the South, journeyman slaves(who sometimes worked without oversight), carried “chits”, or stamped badges with a number on it. This was their pass in town.

Well, they do seem to want ID from out-of-state people too.

http://www.townofpalmbeach.com/DocumentCenter/View/348

This situation is terrible, and if it’s still going on in this day and age, it’s even worse. But I couldn’t resist a chuckle at the statement, “Loitering? How could I be loitering at 35 mph?”

Neither of those ‘cards’ are what GT’s describing. This old program ended not long after it was exposed in Doonesbury due to FL law basically outlawing it.

The Voluntary ID is a check of identification through state/federal databases: basically a background check that your business does to you but they give a card to prove it’s been done.The Out-of-State is for owners of property who don’t reside in FL but need to get back into the town after a natural disaster (Hurricane) when access is highly restricted – your normal drivers licenses won’t work since it wouldn’t show a Palm Beach address.

Actually, I did read that first, it was just too close to pass up. About 10 years ago, my spouse and I were staying at the Breakers, a very posh Palm Beach hotel. We took a cab to a local sushi joint, then decided to walk back to the hotel. Rather than walk down the main street, we decided to walk down a residential street to the beach. About half way down the street, a cop pulled alongside and nicely asked if we needed directions. He suggested that we take the most direct route back. Again, he could not have been more polite, but the message was clear that we shouldn’t be walking down a residential street at night. We were white 40-somethings, I suspect a minority would have gotten a more pointed reception.

The powers that be even hired black police to do their dirty work for them. Like the Buffalo soldiers whose job it was to kill Indians.

deja vu

Hence the need for more black law enforcement officers.(besides, folks keep shooting the white ones)

Actually, many of those laws were on the books when Slavery was still going on..You don’t really think they Waited for Emancipation before they began Harassing people, do you?.

The rich people make the rules. The rest of us make noise.