Steubenville resident Wisdom Born is tired of being "automatically considered a criminal" just because he is a black man.
Recently, Born held his own one-man demonstration in East Wheeling. He held a sign that read "W.P.D. (Wheeling Police Department) All Black People Don't Look Alike." He carried another that accused the Wheeling Police Department of racial profiling.
Those are claims to make any law enforcement official shudder, but Wheeling Police Chief Kevin Gessler said such assertions directed at his officers are not justified.
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Photo by Scott McCloskey
Steubenville resident Wisdom Born holds a sign that reads “W.P.D. (Wheeling Police Department) All Black People Don’t Look Alike” during a protest in East Wheeling.
Born said his protest was in regard to injuries suffered by his 26-year-old cousin, Wheeling resident Durran Goodwin. He said Goodwin suffered a broken wrist June 14 at the hands of city officers in a case of mistaken identity.
He called that incident one of racial profiling. He said city police subjected Goodwin to abuse when they actually were looking for Goodwin's brother.
"They didn't have the right person," Born said. "It is not just the Wheeling Police Department. It's national. He was chased down and run over with the car. His brother doesn't even look similar to him, and they asked other people 'Are you Goodwin?' That's why I called it profiling. All black people don't look alike."
Born admitted that his cousin ran from police. He said, however, that his cousin was merely afraid. Born believes the fear is justified.
"He got nervous and took off running," Born said. "There are a lot of problems in East Wheeling and all over the country. It goes on everywhere. At 18 I had a gun pulled on me (by police), and it wasn't me they wanted. (As a black man) you're automatically considered a criminal, and that's how it is. That's how I honestly feel."
Gessler said Durran Goodwin was approached by police at about 6 p.m. June 14 in the area of 14th and Jacob streets. The officers believed Goodwin was someone wanted on a federal warrant, but Gessler said the suspect ran before he could be identified.
Officers tackled Goodwin in the vicinity of 17th and Jacob streets, and the suspect's wrist was injured. After being treated at a city hospital, Goodwin was released. Officers determined the man they were looking for - the man actually wanted on a federal warrant - was Goodwin's brother.
Durran Goodwin is now a wanted man, however. Gessler said there is an outstanding warrant charging Goodwin with fleeing from police stemming from the June 14 incident. The chief said Goodwin could have avoided any trouble with city officers.
"It has nothing to do with racial profiling," Gessler said. "It has everything to do with determining whether an individual is wanted by the law or not wanted by the law. Had he not fled, the positive identification could have been made. ...The officers did what they are supposed to do. Running gives the officers probable cause to investigate further."
Gessler said the sex, race and age of the suspect is documented in each Wheeling police arrest. He said there is nothing in those statistics that would indicate a disproportionate amount of arrests made in any of those categories. Gessler said the statistics do not indicate racial profiling.
The chief again stressed the incident involving Goodwin could have been avoided. He said the suspect was not the only person injured.
"My officer got hurt, too," Gessler said. "When he started to flee, the officer had a hold of him. It caused the officer to fall to the pavement. He was treated at the hospital, and he is OK, but we didn't have to have these injuries to a citizen or an officer. It could have been prevented with cooperation."
Delores Wiggins, president of the Ohio Valley Black Caucus which represents Ohio, Belmont, Jefferson, Brooke, Hancock and Harrison counties, also is a former chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She has spent the past 41 years working for civil rights.
"Fairness" is one of several words Wiggins regularly uses when she speaks. She often implies that "fairness" is a goal not yet achieved. "Double standard" and "disparity" are the other words often spoken by Wiggins. She implies "double standards" and "disparities" are what must be overcome to achieve "fairness."
Although Born said he feels targeted by police as a black man, Wiggins said she does not think most blacks feel the same. She said African Americans are not so much "targeted" - they more often are the victims of double standards.
"Black people aren't targeted as criminals because they are black," Wiggins said. "They are targeted most of the time because they have done something unlawful. ... I will admit there have been many times throughout the United States, not so much in Wheeling or Steubenville, where African Americans have been a target of double standards. If you (a white man) and I rob a bank, you get five years probation, and I get sent to the penitentiary. That's when the time doesn't match the crime."
Wiggins does, however, believe Born is on the right track in his message that "black people do not all look alike." She said police sometimes use vague descriptions of suspects to harass law-abiding black people.
"I think he could be right about that," Wiggins said. "(Police) have picked up African Americans walking down the street minding their own business, and attempted to take them to jail because they thought they were someone else. Then, when they find out they've arrested the wrong person, they're not given an apology."