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Rally Against UCF Police Harassment
Long time gay activist and mixed-race philosopher and poet Jennifer Lisa Vest, who is our colleague in UCF’s philosophy department, was the victim of police misconduct by four white UCF campus police officers on August 9th at 9pm on Alafaya. As far as we understand, she has filed a grievance and complaints with the police department, the ACLU and NAACP. All the investigative processes are still ongoing. We believe that as queer academics, we shall not tolerate nor remain silent in the face of police misconduct that targets people because of non-normative race, gender, sexuality, or ability. Vest was stopped on Alafaya road (near Gemini) on Monday night (8/9/2010) at 9 PM purportedly for a broken taillight. The officers proceeded to search her car (allegedly for illegal drugs) and to search her body. All this without cause (or perhaps the correct phrase would be that they seem to have perceived “cause” because they interpreted a prescription bottle of medication to be an indication that this person of color must be involved in possession or distribution of illegal drugs? If it isn’t already clear that profiling based on institutional racism was in play here, note that throughout these actions Vest was subjected to abusive language (e.g. being called a drug user, crackhead, liar, told "I don't care who the hell you are!" when she told them she was a professor not a crackhead), she was threatened with arrest and with wrongful accusations (that she had illegal drugs when she did not), slander (telling the arriving paramedics that she was a criminal) and medical neglect (as the police refused to let her use her nitrospray when she experienced chest pain – Vest has a heart condition and had let them know this early on). This entire ordeal took longer than 1.5 hours and entailed humiliation in front of passing students. Besides being the target of unprofessional behavior (and likely unlawful actions) combined with racist and abusive treatment by these four white police officers, Vest’s health was jeopardized (she was forced to endure unnecessary and overwhelming stress which would be taxing for anybody, but is made more problematic by her heart condition and the police’s refusal to let her use her prescription medication when she needed it.) It is outrageous that the UCF police would treat anybody like this. It is even more problematic to note the derogatory statements and racial profiling evident in the incidents. The police officers blatantly disregarded and violated Vest’s civil liberties and basic rights. We want to offer our personal support to JL Vest and hope that many of you will join us in renewing a commitment to speak and act against police misconduct and the use of state and police force to intimidate, persecute, or harass non-normative peoples. CPA along with the group "Stop UCF Police Harassment" are hosting a Sit-In/Rally at Millican Hall on Friday, Septmeber 3rd from 10am-2:00pm. |
