Date:    Wed, 3 Jun 1998 11:08:37 -0700
<br>From:    "A. Vine" <avine[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ENG.SUN.COM>
<br>Subject: Re: "Driving While Black"
<br>
<br>Barry,
<br>
<br>In the California Bay Area, there is an expression (racist) "Driving While
<br>Oriental".  It isn't to illustrate that people are stopped by police because
<br>they are Oriental/Asian; rather, it is a comment on driving skills.  I heard
<br>this expression at least 9 years ago.  Fortunately, I haven't heard it lately.
<br>
<br>Andrea
<br>--
<br>--------------------
<br>bite the wax tadpole
<br>
<br>Barry A. Popik wrote:
<br>>
<br>> DRIVING WHILE BLACK (DWB)
<br>>
<br>>      The feature story in the Village Voice, 9 June 1998, is "Driving While
<br>> Black:  Fear & Loathing on the Jersey Turnpike" by Peter Noel.  DWB is
<br>> obviously a play on DWI (driving while intoxicated).  On page 39, Noel
<br> writes:
<br>>
<br>>      Since 1989--and possibly long before that--state police have been
<br>> "engaged in a program of racial targeting" on the New Jersey Turnpike,
<br>> according to court documents in a pending case against 19 black men and women
<br>> who, in a joint motion, claimed they were illegally targeted, stopped,
<br>> searched, and arrested by troopers on the turnpike in Gloucester County
<br>> between January 1989 and April 1991.  Allegedly, the troopers target blacks,
<br>> especially those driving luxury cars such as BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, and
<br>> Lexuses.
<br>>
<br>>      Deja News shows over 700 hits for "driving while black."  One of them is
<br>> New Jersey Cop Watch #8 in misc.activism.progressive.  It quotes lawyer
<br>> Johnnie L. Cochran with "These men were guilty of DWB.  Driving While Black."
<br>> I don't know if Johnnie Cochran coined the phrase, but it wouldn't be
<br>> surprising if he did.
<br>>      For "Among the New Words."
<br>>
<br>