Be strong. Right will prevail over wrong.
Edward Lawson
Be strong. Right will prevail over wrong.
2008 - Edward Lawson arrest - Traveling While Black
- DEA Agents Amtrak Train Arrest | June 9, 2008
Amtrak Southwest Chief Los Angeles Union Station - Chicago - New York
DEA Agents Arrest - at the Albuquerque New Mexico Amtrak station |
2007 - Edward Lawson arrest - Driving While Black
LA County Sheriff Arrest | facts - details - document copies
Huffington Post - April 12, 2008 on LA Times report of LA County Sheriff's number of arrest contests
2006 - Edward Lawson arrest - Flying While Black
Long Beach Airport Arrest | TSA | JetBlue | Long Beach PD | facts - details - document copies
Our YouTube Video Channel
Edward Lawson YouTube videos |
Traveling While Black - 2008 Amtrak - DEA Arrest - Albuquerque New Mexico Amtrak station | YouTube video
Driving While Black - 2007 LA County Sheriff Arrest - YouTube Video
Flying While Black - 2006 TSA - Jetblue - Long Beach PD - Long Beach Airport Arrest | YouTube video
Walking While Black - 1983 U.S. Supreme Court Civil Rights Case | Part 1 | Part 2 | YouTube video
1983 U.S. Supreme Court Civil Rights Case - improved video quality |
1983 U.S. Supreme Court Case - Walking While Black
| Court 1 | Court 2 | Court 3 - oral arguments |
1981 United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
-- Lawson v. Kolender, 658 F.2d 1362 (9th Cir. 1981) October 15, 1981
On approximately fifteen occasions between March, 1975 and January, 1977, Edward Lawson was stopped by law enforcement officials. On each occasion, he was detained or arrested on the basis of California Penal Code § 647(e). Lawson was prosecuted only twice for the alleged offenses; one resulted in dismissal, the other in conviction. Lawson filed a complaint seeking: (1) a declaratory judgment that section 647(e) is unconstitutional; (2) a mandatory injunction restraining the enforcement of the section; and (3) compensatory and punitive damages against the various officers who arrested him because they deprived him of his constitutional rights.
-- "a person who is stopped on less than probable cause cannot be punished for failing to identify himself."
-- "... the arrests were not made in good faith and that they were merely made for the purpose of harassing Lawson, since very few of the arrests ended in prosecution."
Video - Edward C. Lawson U.S. Supreme Court Civil Rights Case - improved video quality |
STAND UP STRAIGHT - June 2008 at the Huffington Post |I've been absent from 8th grade for decades but I can still remember the return-from-sumer-vacation "show & tell." I can hear my teacher tell me to stand up straight. I can imagine how I might tell the other little boys & girls as school starts about my summertime constitutional collision with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration on board an ordinary Amtrak train in Albuquerque, New Mexico earlier this week as I attempted to travel by train from Los Angeles to Chicago.
On Sunday, June 8, at 10:45 AM, at Union Station in Los Angeles, I boarded Amtrak's Southwest Chief # 4, train car 413, seat 6 and, amazed that we departing on time, I anticipated that we would arrive at Chicago's Union Station on time, on Wednesday at 3:20 PM. - text continued here |
