 OneAmerica in conjunction with the Rights Working Group (RWG) and CAIR hosted a Racial Profiling Hearing on May 8, 2010 in Burlington. This hearing is a part of the Rights Working Group’s Face the Truth Campaign to counter racial profiling in America. From left: Mazen Basrawi, from the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Pramila Jayapal, founder and executive director of OneAmerica, Karen Narasaki, executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, Judge Steven Gonzalez, from King County Superior Court, and Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates and National Association of Muslim Lawyers |
Seattle Police Department Det. Shandy Cobane made a grave mistake on April 17, when he and other officers detained three Latino men as possible robbery suspects. In an incident caught on tape, Martin Monetti, 21, was face down on the ground without handcuffs. On the tape, Cobane was heard making ethnically charged comments before kicking Monetti in the head. Officer Mary Woollum is shown stomping on Monetti’s leg.
Once the police realized that they had the wrong man, they lifted Monetti up and let him go. The freelance photographer who caught the whole thing on tape asked Monetti why the officers kicked him. Monetti replied, “I don’t know. They just kicked me in the head. They knocked me in the head.”
Since then, Cobane and Woolum were reassigned during the internal investigation that was ordered by Interim Police Chief John Diaz. The FBI said it has launched an investigation and findings will be forwarded to the civil rights section of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
It goes without saying that what happened to Monetti is horrible. The officers were right in detaining him because, to them, he matched the description of the suspects. However, the line was crossed when Cobane used offensive language and unnecessarily assaulted Monetti. It was also unnecessary for Woollum to stomp on Monetti. And it is disheartening that the other officers in the video stood by and did nothing.
Citizens place a lot of trust in their law enforcement officers, individuals who have the responsibility of a very hard job. But it’s instances like these that cause the public to lose trust in and become suspicious of the police.
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has said that he is concerned about the incident but is waiting for the full report of the investigation before taking action. We urge everyone to voice to the mayor that we want him to act definitively and make it clear that the City of Seattle doesn’t tolerate racially or ethnically offensive language that demeans and humiliates people in the name of law enforcement. Citizens need this security in order to continue trusting the police.
One positive that has come out of this horrible incident is that it has spurred many local people into taking a vocal stand against racial profiling.
OneAmerica, in partnership with the Rights Working Group’s Face the Truth campaign, held the first in a series of hearings on racial profiling on May 8 in Burlington. At the hearings, people testified on specific instances of racial profiling they have encountered, as racial profiling has been affecting many diverse communities across Washington state and the country.
It’s important that we continue to speak out, educate, and remind everyone that racial profiling should not be tolerated. ♦