LOS ANGELES, CA - "Governor Davis and Senator Murray have colluded in creating a truly empty piece of legislation," said Catherine Lhamon, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern

California. "Racial profiling in traffic stops is a major issue in this state, a real problem for which Californians of color need a real solution."

Governor Davis and Senator Murray today announced that Senator Murray's racial profiling statistics bill, SB 1389, which would have required the state to gather statistics from law enforcement agencies on racial profiling in traffic stops, has been gutted and replaced with a bill that purports to make racial profiling illegal.

The new bill will also require officers to give their business cards to motorists to whom they do not give a ticket. The agreement between the Governor and the Senator, according to the Governor's office, will also include an expansion of current diversity training efforts.

"The new bill is insufficient," said Lhamon. "Gathering statistics will create knowledge and accountability. Police officers handing out business cards doesn't accomplish that."

"The Governor's proposal relies on practices that in themselves have proven insufficient to the task: more diversity training, married to current complaint systems," said Lhamon. "More and

better training is a good idea, but by itself it's not enough. You have to determine that training has an overall effect on the problem'and you can't do that without statistics."

"Every day as Rampart unfolds, we learn more about the nightmares of a system that asks law enforcement agencies to police themselves," said Lhamon. "In that context, asking the people of Los Angeles and California to trust that police will simply stop racial profiling without any real system of oversight or accountability is absurd."

Today the ACLU of Southern California filed a class-action lawsuit, Romero v. City of Montebello, to end the City of Montebello's discriminatory allotment of more park space and time for boys' baseball leagues than for a girls' softball league. The private firm Arnold & Porter joins the ACLU as pro bono co-counsel in the case.
The case is filed on behalf of eight girls who are members of the Montebello Ponytail Girls' Softball Association, including Stephanie Romero, 14, who has played pitcher and third base in the girls' league for seven seasons and who dreams of playing on the United States Olympic Team; Jesy Wrtaza, 9, shortstop and second and third base person for four seasons, who also dreams of a college, Olympic, and professional softball career; and six other named plaintiffs who represent the 450 other girls who participate in the league, as well as countless girls who will join the league in the future.
"For years, the Ponytail girls have been forced to play softball in a single, crowded diamond at a public park side-by-side a thriving boys' baseball league. Although the Ponytails have continued to grow, their access to public playing fields has remained frozen due to the City's grossly unequal allocation of field space to girls' sports programs. This is especially remarkable given City officials' express recognition of this gender-based disparity," noted Rocio Cordoba, ACLU of Southern California staff attorney.
The Montebello Ponytail Girls' Softball Association, an all-girls softball league and part of a nationwide network of girls' Ponytail leagues, has grown rapidly over the last two decades to over 450 members ages 5 to 18. The Ponytails share Grant Rae Park, a large public playing field, with the Montebello Baseball Association, a boys' baseball league. Despite near parity in terms of size, the two leagues have starkly different levels of access to playing facilities. The Ponytails use one full-size diamond for half a year and a small T-ball diamond for six early morning weekend hours per week. The boys' league has access to three regular diamonds and the prime hours for the T-ball diamond. Boys also have pre- and post-season access to the park, while girls do not. Outside of softball season, there are no girls' athletic programs at all utilizing the park.
This inequitable scheduling system forces the Ponytails to stack their games so closely together that the players have insufficient time to warm up and cool down, thus increasing their risk of injury; forces girls' teams to travel to other cities during the months of August to January in order to play post-season games; requires girls to play games at inconvenient times, and gives the Ponytails less access to a concession stand, which is an essential fund-raising mechanism.
"Space and time are fundamental resources for athletic teams," said Cordoba, "and the resources in Montebello are allocated in a completely lopsided way. This has a profound impact on the girls as players and, ultimately, on their development as young women. Research consistently shows that participation in athletics helps girls grow up strong and healthy, both physically and psychologically. The City of Montebello is sending a clear message to its girls. Its unequal system brands girls as inferior, second-class citizens and perpetuates gender-based stereotypes that girls' athletics are somehow less deserving than boys' athletics."
Numerous studies have demonstrated that young women who participate in sports have higher levels of self-esteem, do better in school, are less likely to become pregnant while teenagers, and have fewer problems with drug abuse and eating disorders.
A similar case filed against the City of Los Angeles in 1998 resulted in "Raise the Bar," a landmark citywide program to foster girls' equal access to city sports facilities and programs.
"We need to promote equality for girls' sports throughout the country," said Cordoba. "Schools have been dealing with gender equity issues for decades thanks to Title IX, but cities, outside the scope of Title IX, haven't, for the most part, dealt with these issues as thoroughly. Girls such as the courageous Ponytails players are stepping forward to challenge the disparities they encounter. By monitoring the access cities give to girls' athletics and challenging any inequities, we will help cities understand that they, too, are obligated to treat girls fairly."

Carlos Gonzalez, a Latino math teacher from East L.A., was driving his new red mustang convertible when police officers pulled him over, handcuffed him, questioned him, and detained him'all without asking for his ID or explaining what he had done. After 25 minutes of personal terror and public humiliation, Gonzalez received a ticket for speeding'the first point during the ordeal at which the officer mentioned a traffic violation. Gonzalez was shaken by the incident and no longer drives his red mustang, which he traded in for a car less likely to attract the attention of police.

Bishop Leon Ralph, an African American former member of the California Assembly, was pulled over in Long Beach. The officer who pulled him over did not recognize the special government plates on his car. She drew her gun on the former legislator and accused him of defacing his plates. He was not accused of any traffic violation and received no ticket. The police officer allowed him to proceed when she learned of the government plates.

Timothy Campbell, an African American realtor and building contractor, was pulled over by police in Los Angeles. He was first accused of stealing his car, next accused of spray-painting anti-police graffiti on a wall nearby, then accused of speeding. When a supervising officer finally arrived at the scene, the speeding ticket was voided. Throughout the stop, which lasted over an hour, police used abusive language and threats.

Campbell complained'and didn't receive a response from the police for over a year.

Rolando Cuervo and a friend were driving in Monterey Park to the 7-11 for coffee. Police saw the two young Latino men and immediately made a u-turn, following them closely for several blocks. Finally, they were pulled over, detained, and subjected to a bizarre interrogation, which included questions about their employment status, their radio equipment, and their sexual orientation. The officer seemed certain that the two college friends were criminals. Rolando has written a letter of complaint and is still awaiting a response.

Gonzalez, Ralph, Campbell, and Cuervo were among a crowd of over two hundred people from throughout the Los Angeles region who gathered at First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles on Monday, April 17, to describe their experiences of being stopped by law enforcement officers because of their race.

A panel including LAPD Chief Parks, Los Angeles City Council Members Nate Holden, Rita Walters, and Jackie Goldberg, Assemblymember Gloria Romero, and representatives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Department of Justice, listened for over two hours as town hall attendees told of being stopped because of their skin color. Speakers reported being held at gunpoint, being searched, being detained, and having their property searched against their will for no reason other than their race.

Dominique DiPrima of 92.3 The Beat was MC of the event, and attendees and panelists were asked to sign a letter of support for a racial profiling statistics bill, Senator Kevin Murray's SB 1389, which has twice passed the California Legislature, only to be vetoed first by Governor Wilson, then by Governor Davis.

The event was part of a series of statewide town halls focused on the issue of racial profiling in traffic stops, a statewide organizing effort which will include a lobby day to support SB 1389 on April 27, 2000.

The Los Angeles town hall was sponsored by the ACLU of Southern California, Los Angeles Urban League, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) , Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), Los Angeles NAACP, Project Islamic Hope, Black Women's Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Coalition Against Police Abuse, Pilipino Workers Center, Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, Community Coalition, National Lawyer's Guild, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, Gay and Lesbian Action Alliance, Southern California Criminal Justice Consortium.