Apparently the Washington Metropolitan Police has been overzealous (to say the least) about barring African American males from public housing properties. Before last week, I had never heard of the term “barring notice” which is defined as:

a tool that property owners and/or persons lawfully entitled to possession of property (and their agents whom they have approved to serve in such a capacity) may use to restrict an individual who is not lawfully present on their private property to ensure safety at the premises. If individuals violate a barring notice by appearing on the property after having received notice that they are not permitted on the property, they may face arrest and/or prosecution for unlawful entry on the premises.

These “barring notices” are an outgrowth of the War on Drugs. In an article on this topic titled “Kept Out: Responding to Public Housing No-Trespass Policies,” Elena Goldstein explains:

Typically, a PHA (public housing authority) that hopes to reduce drug sales or crime on housing development property will ask its local police department to warn nonresidents who enter the development that they are trespassing. Persons issued a warning are placed on a no-trespass list, maintained by the housing development manager or, in some cases, by the police themselves; if they return to the development, they are arrested.

The DC Metro Police have apparently taken the concept of a “barring notice” as a license to harass young African American males at will. A group of organizers and advocates are fed up with the practice:

Outrage and exasperation have emerged over the alleged treatment of young African-American men in our area.

Dozens have received “barring notices” from the DC Housing Authority Police and Metropolitan Police officers, forbidding them to visit local housing projects.

A spokeswoman for the DC Housing Authority says people are barred for engaging in any activity that threatens the health, safety or peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents. But some of the men insist they’re being barred simply for the way they look.

“I don’t even have a jaywalking ticket. They can’t even tell me why they slammed me on the ground, turning my pockets inside and out. Put their foot on my neck and laughing about it. Saying something to his partner about he’s going to jail tonight,” said Isaiah Green, a 21 year-old.

Green received one of the 67 “bar notices” issued so far this year at Woodland Terrace.

“Enough is enough. We are human beings. We’re not animals. We don’t deserve to go in cages. I have no record. I have never been convicted of any crime,” said Trayon White.

White was also arrested at Woodland Terrace. The Board of Education member was told he was not authorized to be on the property.

“And I was trying to figure out, ‘How can I be unauthorized to be on the property when I have an office and a contract with DC Housing Authority to serve on the property?'”

After a public outcry, the charges were dismissed, but White says his name is still in the DC court system.

“He’s branded for life and he did nothing. He has a Master’s degree. He’s a public servant. Duly elected. And they told him they can’t go certain places in the city,” said Johnny Barnes, a D.C. attorney.

Here’s the story of a 30 year man named Gary Lover who has been harassed while trying to visit his sick mother:

In 2008, he sat on the front porch of his mother’s home in the Lincoln Heights Housing when a jump out squad approached him asking for identification. When Lover questioned why he was being frisked, officers pushed him, charged him with disorderly conduct, arrested and took him to the Sixth District Police Station. He stayed overnight, went to court the following day and the case was dismissed.

“I never received any notification from the court, police or housing that I was barred from my mother’s place,” said Lover. For the next two years, Lover was arrested eight times for unlawful entry when he visited his mother. “Each time I was set free. The cases were not papered yet it still continues,” said Lover.

Wanda Lover, Gary’s mother, said she attributes her poor health to not being allowed to see her sons at her home of 25 years. “Both my sons are in the same predicament for no reason. It’s terrible. I’m angry because if I want to see either of my sons I have to meet them away from my home.”

“Sometimes police bang on my window shouting for my sons to come outside when they’re not even at my house. My sons haven’t committed any crimes. If something happens to me I can’t call my sons for help. It must be stopped,” said the ailing mother.

It appears that for some young men in D.C. “standing or visiting while black” qualifies as criminal activity. It seems to me that this is the equivalent of the Arizona “papers please” laws where people suspected of being undocumented immigrants can be stopped by law enforcement at will. It also reminds me of the slave patrols of old.