Weekly News Archive

November 19 (’06) – November 25 (’06)

Equal Social Justice For All

Dear Readers,
Today I was standing up on the corner of Shattuck and Alston by the downtown Berkeley bart station when I saw one of the many bike cops harassing a teenage youth. From what I could hear the conflict was that the teenager was acting suspicious by standing by the steps while waiting for his bus to come. The teenager told the cop he was just waiting for the bus but the cop wasn’t about to let him go that easily. He quickly approached the teenager and patted him down all because he was “standing suspiciously while waiting for a bus”. Although the teenager didn’t have anything on him to get him arrested the real issue is how the cop handled the situation.
By patting down the teenager the cop abused his powers and helps prove a lot of the complaints that Berkeley High students have had about bike cops who cruise around Downtown Berkeley. Some Berkeley High students have given specific names of bike cops who they have experienced abuse from and I have seen many of those specific cops abuse their power against Berkeley High students. The good news about this situation for Berkeley High students is that several students in my classes have been trying to write a petition that would get some of these abusive bike cops fired. The bad news is that until those petitions get turned in the groups of bad bike cops will still be roaming the streets looking for more teenagers to abuse.
My question to all you readers is do you think teenagers are abused by cops because they don’t have enough power to have a say in the social justice system? Do you think that teenagers need to be more represented when it comes to social justice in this city? Please, I’m trying to have a good discussion about this topic so don’t be shy to write a response.

— Josh