EDITORIAL: SMALL MINDS EMBARRASS SMALL TOWN

EDITORIAL: SMALL MINDS EMBARRASS SMALL TOWN
Islamic Community Net
Tue Feb 13, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamiccommunitynet/message/11788

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Small minds embarrass small town
Muskogee Phoenix
February 10, 2007
http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/local_story_041003624.html

Webbers Falls handled a recent police faux pas well, but the incident should not have happened in the first place.

The town council fired Officer James Wagoner and demoted Capt. Joe Garrett for harassing a Muslim woman during a traffic stop in November, according to a state news story last week. Garrett also is taking “sensitivity and diversity” training, according to the town.

The two stopped kindergarten teacher Nadiah Yusuf of Little Rock, Ark., for speeding on Interstate 40 as she returned from an Oklahoma City conference with five other colleagues.

Wagoner and Garrett didn’t just ticket her, but because she wore a hijab, a head scarf, they questioned her about her Muslim background in a way that Yusuf said she felt threatened. At one point, the men asked Yusuf, 36, if she was connected to the “guy who flew the plane into the building.”

We expect officers to have more discretion than Wagoner and Garrett displayed in harassing someone during a traffic stop just because of that person’s dress. That is something all towns, large and small, should make clear to their officers before they ever receive a badge, not only because it’s wrong, but because harassment opens towns to lawsuits. Webbers Falls should be grateful Yusuf only asked for an apology.

While we are on the subject of Webbers Falls, we also must point out our disappointment in the town for using I-40 for a speed trap.

In December, the state told the Webbers Falls Police Department it could not regulate or enforce traffic on the interstate just because the city annexed a portion of it into the city limits. The town was using the highway as a cash cow. The stops along I-40, including Yusuf’s, were not motivated by interest in Webbers Falls’ safety, but its pocketbook.

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/local_story_041003624.html