Woman Flashed a ‘White Privilege Card’ During Traffic Stop, Alaskan Police Officers in Trouble for Letting Her Go
Paul Sacca, The Blaze, August 6, 2022
A woman flashed a “white privilege card” during a traffic stop in Alaska. Two Anchorage police officers are now in trouble for letting her go.
In a since-deleted Facebook post, Mimi Israelah said she was pulled over for weaving in and out of her lane while driving at 3:43 a.m. on July 7. She wrote that she had arrived in Anchorage on an early-morning flight from California to Alaska. She went to Alaska to attend a rally for former President Donald Trump.
Officers asked Israelah for her driver’s license, but she couldn’t locate it. Instead, she presented a “white privilege card.”
“When I saw my White Privilege card, I gave to him if it’s ok,” Israelah wrote on Facebook. “He laughed and called his partner. It’s their first time to see a White Privileged (sic) card.”
The novelty card reads: “White Privilege Card Trumps Everything.”
Israelah describes herself as Pinay – a woman of Filipino ethnicity – in her social media profiles.
“Mimi Israelah claimed in a Facebook post that she was pulled over for weaving at 3.45am while driving to a pizzeria in Anchorage after arriving on an early-morning flight from California for Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday to support local Republican candidates he’s backed.” pic.twitter.com/S5mLvNkGiZ
— Joey (@Firewall700) July 14, 2022
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The police officers did not observe any signs of impairment from Israelah, and they let her go free without giving a citation for driving without a license.
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The Anchorage police officers in the incident were identified as Nicholas Bowe and Charles Worland {snip}
The Anchorage Police Department said the officers violated policy.
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Anchorage Police Department Sgt. Jeremy Conkling – who is the president of the police union – told the Anchorage Daily News that officers have discretion when handing out citations. He stressed that officers typically don’t issue citations for minor offenses {snip}
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Celeste Hodge Growden – the president of the Alaska Black Caucus – questioned if Israelah got out of the ticket because of her “white privilege” novelty card.
Growden asked, “Is it because the white privilege card was effective?”
Growden ranted, “As a Black person, I was truly offended. And maybe some can’t understand that because they’re not a person of color, they’re not black, but that was deeply offensive to members within our community and to some that are racially profiled by law enforcement. … I can’t understand why the officers found that humorous.”
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Worland and Bowe were placed on administrative leave during an 11-day investigation into the incident.
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