Observers witnessed police walking into crowds, grabbing one or several young people, forcing them to empty their pockets, then handcuffing them while sometimes cursing and shouting orders and threatening physical harm.

Every year several hundred thousand black youths gather at Miami's South Beach for Urban Beach Week, and each year the local police show them that African Americans are not wanted. By Mel Reeves.

The annual Urban Beach Week gathering of a few hundred thousand primarily black youth on Memorial Day weekend on Miami's South Beach is proof positive that racial profiling is alive and well in the United States. The event is billed by some as the largest street party, or urban festival in the US and some say the world. It's also the site of the most flagrant manifestation of racial profiling violations of US law.

The number of arrests reported so far this year, are down as well as the number of attendees. Last year 777 party goers were arrested and in 2006 over a thousand folks were arrested, primarily for petty misdemeanors. The 2006 number was double the number for 2005 which alarmed civil rights and civil liberty groups. What got their attention was the fact that a significant percentage of the arrest charges were thrown out before they reached court. The other thing was the type of arrests.

Many young people were taken into custody for no apparent reason. Many were arrested in sweeps in which police just grabbed young people and others were arrested because they had the audacity to ask why their friends were being taken away, when they had done nothing wrong, or because they didn't move away from the street fast enough. The young people caught in this snare were charged with resisting arrest. Those who tried to assert their rights too vociferously were charged with resisting with violence.

Lawlessness on the part of law enforcement has become the order of the day at these events. Now, to be fair, the new Miami Beach chief of police, Carlos Noriega, appeared sincere in his assurances that there would be more professionalism on the part of his force this year. The lower numbers - just over 300 arrested as of Sunday night - may be a reflection of this. The numbers may also indicate that Chief Noriega is trying to make good on his assurances to the ACLU and the NAACP that his cops will behave themselves. But many of his officers didn't get the message, and neither did the Miami Dade County Multi Agency Gang Task Force.

Police in the multi agency gang task force conduct what has come to be known nationally as stop and frisks. Observers witnessed police walking into crowds, grabbing one or several young people, forcing them to empty their pockets, then handcuffing them while sometimes cursing and shouting orders and threatening physical harm. It's a real show. Police often released the young people, many of whom seem deeply traumatized by the event. It happens every year, as NAACP observers and ACLU can attest.

Police harassment knows no boundaries. While serving as an NAACP observer along with King Downing of the national ACLU, I was harassed by the police. During Urban Beach Week, the only rights one has, are the ones granted by the police. The weekend poses a dilemma for some of the local black leadership, who fought for the right to use all public facilities but find black people are abused when availing themselves of these rights. Should black elders urge a boycott of Urban Beach Week?

Incidentally, representatives of the city of Miami Beach went out of their way to inform the public that Urban Beach Week is not an officially sanctioned festival/event. In other words, despite the fact that the young people fill the Miami Beach hotels to capacity during a season that is usually slow and rental agencies, retailers and restaurants make a bundle, blacks still aren't welcome. Which of course, may partially explain the mistreatment.

If anyone has any doubts about why the United Nations is conducting a study about racism in the U.S, or if you believe Senator Barack Obama's contention that there is no black America but "only the United States of America," a few nights in Miami will put that fantasy to rest.


Article reprinted with kind permission of www.blackagendareport.com