THERE IS NO DENYING IT: DWB IS REAL

WE could not have said it any better than Loretta Green did in her
column ``Walk a mile in black shoes before denying racial profiling''
(Page 2B, Oct. 3).

As an African-American family living in one of the most affluent,
sophisticated and educated communities in America, we too have
experienced the same atrocities. We have no doubt that we have had the
same ``driving while black'' experience. Being stopped for no apparent
reason other than driving an expensive car in a neighborhood where so
few people of our color live -- our own neighborhood -- is frustrating
and insulting. Being stopped while wearing a bushy Afro hairstyle --
for no reason other than being mistaken for ``Angela Davis" -- is maddening.

We had no doubts about DWB when our daughter and her now husband, but
then boyfriend, were stopped in a local park for ``vagrancy.'' Their
white peers who often frequented this local park had no such problems.
We had no doubts that our son too was a victim of DWB because he was
driving a nice car in an affluent area.

Black parents constantly warn their children that they cannot do
things that their white peers do because they will be cited more
quickly and harshly than others will. It is difficult to teach our
children about fairness under these conditions. Is it surprising that
they, like their parents, have developed anger because of this grave
inequity?

Thank you, Loretta Green, for having the guts to tell the truth at a
time when most people are trying to deny that DWB exists. Gov. Gray
Davis should be ashamed of himself for not having the guts to
investigate this problem in depth.

JAMES AND VIRGINIA LOCKHART
Los Altos Hills

LORETTA Green's column about racial profiling was one of her best. She
wrote a personal account of her family's and her own experiences in
five states regarding unnecessary, unjust and humiliating
confrontations with the police.

The best sentence in the article? Listen to me, Gray Davis, I am
talking to you as a mother. In my opinion, her column should be copied
and mailed to every police department in the state of California.

LEE BOUCHER
Portola Valley

LORETTA Green powerfully captured the experience of people of color
with her column on racial profiling by the police. To this day I get
angry when I recall the time I was stopped and put through a
full-fledged roadside sobriety test for no valid reason. I'm sure the
police officer to this day would assert that I was weaving across the
lane, and I'd tell you he's a liar.

It was very late at night and I was driving through an
upper-middle-class town (San Anselmo in Marin County) after dinner
with a friend. I guess I looked out of place. I was asked where I'd
been and where I was going. I passed the field sobriety test with
flying colors, even as the officer tripped while demonstrating one of
the steps.

This is not an indictment of our police, whom I wholeheartedly
support. But please, no more of this denial nonsense. Racial profiling
by some police officers is a fact of life, and many of us are sick of
the sheer indignity of it. Absent any evidence of wrongdoing, people
should not be stopped by the police and put through the paces just
because they are black or brown.

J. MANUEL HERRERA
San Jose

NOW that Gov. Gray Davis has vetoed the bill requiring police to
record the race of motorists they stop (Page 1A, Sept. 29), I fear
those same agencies will interpret the veto as an endorsement to
continue the unfair and humiliating practice.

Davis has essentially put on blinders by expecting police agencies to
comport themselves in the spirit of the bill. How naive.

He has trivialized a despicable and demeaning act that prompts many
non-whites to tense up whenever a police car is behind them in
traffic. We should feel relatively safe in the presence of police
officers, but it is quite the opposite. It is also disappointing when
one considers that many of the people profiled are the same people who
voted him into office.

I suspect that this letter will fall on the deaf ears of many readers,
specifically those who have never felt the sting of racism. Those
readers will probably mutter to themselves, If he's so unhappy, why
doesn't he go back to where he came from? Well, folks, this is where I
came from. I'm already home, but I sometimes feel like a foreigner in
my own country.

MARIO MARTINEZ
San Jose

HERE are three great reasons why police departments should track the
race of motorists they stop:

If your police force doesn't engage in racial profiling, this will
prove it.

If your police force does engage in a racial profiling, this will
prove it.

And the biggest reason: It will show the community that you care.

KEVIN S. GANT
San Jose