Collective efforts can lead to change

by Anna Roy
Editorial Director

Immediately after the shooting of Irvin Landrum by Claremont police officers on Jan. 11, 1999, protests began. Supporters have not given up their pursuit of justice in what most believe is a racial profiling case gone terribly awry. Every Wednesday at 10 a.m. supporters gather at the Claremont City Council.

Irvin, an eighteen-year-old, father of two was shot three times after police stopped him for speeding. Between the time that Officers Hany Hanna and Jack Kents attempted to search his car and pat Irvin down, he was shot three times by the officers. One officer pleaded the fifth.

Ballistic tests done on the Colt .45 prove the gun was never fired and none of Irvin's fingerprints were found on the gun. A search done on the gun revealed that it once belonged to a former police chief from Ontario, who is now deceased.

Other important factors are that Irvin was driving in a predominantly well to do area, in a new car. He didn't have his license on him, but was a licensed driver. Maybe the CPD realized that Irvin had a prior charge for carrying a concealed weapon. Was this enough reasonable suspicion to search of him and his car?

The 'concealed weapons' charge were for brass knuckles. Had the officers known that was the weapon, would they still have searched Irvin? What if he been a white male? Maybe, Irvin should not have been in a nice neighborhood, in a nice car. If they had spoken to him, treated him like a human and understood that he had to work at 5 a.m that very morning, this may not have not happened. Irvin might have not been shot brutally three times, in the chest, neck and ankle, leaving him paralyzed on the scene, and dead six days later. The officers claim that they shot in defense. Yet Irvin clearly never fired the gun that night.

The sadness and anger surrounding the killing was exacerbated further when the City of Claremont cruelly awarded the officers with 'Employee of the Year' awards, just weeks after the incident. The officers were kept on staff, patrolling, though investigations were still pending. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's office later exonerated the officers, but Irvin's mother filed suit with the U.S. Justice Department so these officers are put on trial, possibly for criminal culpability.

The Irvin Landrum Jr. Justice Organizing Committee continues to raise awareness on his death and on the racial profiling that happens in cities all over the United States. The Stolen Lives Project, www.stolenlives.org is a nationwide project documenting people who have undergone police brutality. Four years after the incident, Claremont is taking steps to improve its now tainted image by recently approving a 15 month study to determine whether the city's police officers unfairly target minority motorists. Claremont is the smallest CA city to take a measure of this kind regarding racial profiling. Studies like this usually aren't conducted. A system of checks and balances for police officers needs to exist, espsecially with racial profiling so prevalent in our society.

The community of Claremont, the college professors, the hundreds of students as well as Irvin's family should feel proud about their protests. Their actions, collectively, have made headway and changed things. Other cities, communities and police departments should do more to study racial profiling so that racism and violence that no doubt exists, can stop. Their efforts will not bring Irvin Landrum Jr. back, but they are helping to prevent this from ever happening to another family, another man's children.

Anna Roy, a senior international studies major, is editorial director of Campus Times. She can be reached by email at roya@ulv.edu.