Living ‘Black’ in the United States of America

And living to tell the tales.

Traffic was heavy on Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights on my way home to Ridgewood, NJ, after work on Wednesday, which wasn’t exactly news. But, as I approached a stretch where Route 46 and Interstate 80 go over Route 17, traffic eased and I saw the reason why. Rubbernecking motorists.

What were they looking at?

A black man with both hands on top of his head standing in front of a white police officer on the grassy area next to the shoulder. The cop’s car, lights flashing, and another car in front of it were parked on the shoulder. Unlike Alton Sterling on Tuesday or Philando Castile on Wednesday, this black man stopped by a white cop was still alive.

James Eagan Holmes, heavily armed, killed 12 and injured 70 people in a Colorado theater and was captured alive. Dylann Roof killed nine churchgoers in South Carolina and was captured alive. Jason Dalton killed six and injured two in Kalamazoo. His life was preserved as he was being arrested.

Cedric Chatman. Tamir Rice. Laquan McDonald. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Black men make up 6% of U.S. population; are 40% of people killed by police.

He’s lucky to be alive, I thought as I drove on. Was that too sanguine a response to the situation?

Jesse Williams Speaking out

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

I am not taking the situation lightly. I’ve lived long enough to be a middle-aged black male despite too many tangles with cops, both in the United States of America and elsewhere, to do that. But, as these killings pile up, becoming more and more common each day, I’ve long realized that I’ve been lucky to still be alive to tell tales of encounters with cops.

My narrow escape from racist Afrikaners in 1994, while on assignment for the New York Daily News in South Africa, is an entirely different story that will be told a different day. Not today. Also, it’s available on the Internet for anyone curious enough to want to find out.

St. Louis, MO in the ’80’s

A police car pulled up behind my car as I eased into traffic after a college friend and I left a bar late one night many years ago. He pulled me over. The cop came up to the car, peered in, then instructed me to step out. I did. He said that he had stopped me for suspected drunk driving because he had observed me weaving in and out of traffic. I protested that I did no such thing and that, in any case, I couldn’t be drunk driving since I had not been drinking.

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MEETING TACKLES TEENAGE DRINKING; GAP IN STATE LAW AROUSES CONCERN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 9, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B01

Who is responsible when Johnny throws a keg party for a few of his teenage friends after Mom and Dad leave for the weekend?
That gap in state law which prohibits teenagers from drinking in most places but does not address who would be responsible when they drink on private property was the major topic of a meeting in Hasbrouck Heights on Tuesday.
“This is an important issue for all of us,” Bergen County Executive William “Pat” Schuber said in his opening address to a breakfast meeting of more than 270 people, including legislators and police officers who deal with juveniles.
“On the issue of host liability and teenage drinking, there cannot be any greater priority for government and our leaders than saving a generation,” Schuber said.
Tuesday’s program at the Sheraton Heights Hotel was organized by the Bergen County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.
County Prosecutor John J. Fahy, the keynote speaker, said the program was not arranged to deal with issues raised by the death of Coleen Draney, a Fair Lawn teenager who died of heart failure at a New Year’s Eve party where there had been drinking.
But, he said, her death helped focus people’s attention on the issue of teenage drinking.
“The consequences are so serious, because young people can die, if the problem is not addressed,” Fahy said.
He raised the point of the ambiguities in the law concerning private property, saying it sends mixed messages to youths and their parents.
Also, he said, youths are constantly bombarded with messages in advertisements that they can enjoy themselves only if they drink.
“The message is not subtle: To be a better lover, you have to drink scotch; to be a better skier, you have to drink beer; to sit at a table with a beautiful woman, you have to drink wine,” Fahy said.
The law states clearly that no one under the age of 21 is allowed to consume alcohol except in a religious ceremony or with the permission of a parent or guardian.
So some parents allow alcohol to be used as a rite of passage, or allow prom-bound teens to drink at home as a way to prevent them from drinking in public, Fahy said.
“I find that to be complete insanity,” Fahy said.
“Those parents, perhaps, are well-intentioned, but . . . the message that we have to send out is that teenage drinking is not going to be tolerated.”
The Bergen County Juvenile Officers Association has developed a model amendment to the state law that would specifically include private property among the places where youths cannot drink.
Cresskill police Detective Sgt. William Macchio, a member of the association, said tougher and clearer laws are needed all over Bergen County.
Cresskill, for instance, has an ordinance that closes the loophole in the state law, and has effectively cut down on teenage parties, he said. But it is unclear whether youths move their parties to surrounding towns.

Keywords: HASBROUCK HEIGHTS; MEETING; YOUTH; ALCOHOL; VIOLATION

SUSPECT SOUGHT IN TWO ATTEMPTED ABDUCTIONS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 10, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

Police in the borough and Hasbrouck Heights are searching for a suspect in the attempted abductions of a Lodi teenager a month ago and of a Rutherford teen on Sunday.
Although descriptions of vehicles used in the incidents are different, descriptions of the suspects are so similar police believe the same man was responsible for both, Rutherford Police Lt. Steven Nienstedt said.
The Hasbrouck Heights incident happened about 2 p.m., April 2, at the intersection of Boulevard and Baldwin avenues, said Hasbrouck Heights Detective Bill Castiglione. The victim, a 16-year-old Lodi girl, reported that a man approached her as she walked along Boulevard Avenue. The man then had “sexual contact” with the girl and tried to abduct her, Castiglione said.
The suspect was described as a 25- to 35-year-old Hispanic male, driving a black, midsize car, possibly with four doors.
Rutherford police said a man fitting that description grabbed a 17-year-old borough girl by the arms on Orient Way at Winslow Place about 9:40 p.m. Sunday. The suspect, said to be about 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds, with dark complexion and short brown hair, spoke Spanish to the girl before grabbing her. He then fled in a “newer-model” pickup truck. The truck had a white cap with windows and a dark-color stripe on the side.
A second suspect was seen standing near the truck during the Rutherford incident, Nienstedt said. Anyone with information on either incident should call Rutherford police at 939-6000, or Hasbrouck Heights police at 288-1000.

Keywords: RUTHERFORD; HASBROUCK HEIGHTS; CHILD; KIDNAPPING; PROBE; POLICE

Caption: DRAWING – Police composite.

HOTEL FIRE IS TRACED TO SMOKER ON BREAK

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, March 31, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

A Sheraton Heights Hotel employee taking a cigarette break in a fourth-floor linen closet Saturday ignited a fire that caused a limited evacuation and minor damage, officials said.
Although a few people staying in the hotel were evacuated, no one was injured and the hotel operations, including tonight’s Easter dinner scheduled for 600 guests, will not be affected, said Nick Nicolosi, executive vice president of Motor Inn Associates, which owns the hotel.
“The water did not get to the ballroom or the Apollo restaurant, where we’ll be serving the dinner,” Nicolosi said.
Nicolosi said an investigator found a box of matches and a package of cigarettes in the closet. Damage was limited to the closet and water stains to tiles in the second- and third-floor ceilings, he said. The employee’s identity had not been determined.
Hasbrouck Heights police said Little Ferry and Wood-Ridge firefighters assisted the borough fire department in putting out the fire.

Keywords: HOTEL; FIRE; TOBACCO; HASBROUCK HEIGHTS

MAN DIES AS JEEP HITS DISABLED TRUCK ON ROUTE 17

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Wednesday, December 5, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

A 20-year-old Fair Lawn man died early Tuesday morning after he was pinned between two tow trucks on Route 17, officials said.

Raymond A. Schotanes was between the two vehicles preparing to have his disabled tow truck hauled away when it was struck by a Jeep Cherokee about 11:50 p.m. Monday, said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.

Schotanes was pronounced dead at Hackensack Medical Center at 2:05 a.m. Tuesday, Fahy said.
The driver of the Cherokee, Scott Taub, 31, of Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., was listed in good condition at the medical center, a spokeswoman said.

Two other people were injured in the accident, which involved a fourth vehicle. William Prince, 48, of Jersey City was in fair condition at the medical center. David Kramer, 28, of Hackensack was treated and released.

Police were unable to say how the fourth vehicle became involved in the accident, or which vehicle Prince and Kramer were in.

Fahy said the Bergen County Fatal Accident Unit and the Hasbrouck Heights Police Department’s Traffic Bureau were investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred in the northbound lane of Route 17 across from the Holiday Inn.