A civil lawsuit filed Monday in a Japanese court is demanding an end to what it calls racial profiling by police. The lawsuit said “racial profiling is nothing but discrimination on the basis of race, nationality and color.'
Zain, Maurice, and Matthew are the three plaintiffs demanding 3 million yen ($20,000) each in punitive damages over “unconstitutional and illegal” treatment, plus 300,000 yen ($2,000) per plaintiff in attorney fees.
Zain, Maurice, and Matthew are the three plaintiffs demanding 3 million yen ($20,000) each in punitive damages over “unconstitutional and illegal” treatment, plus 300,000 yen ($2,000) per plaintiff in attorney fees.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I was riding a bicycle, so they stopped me at the very beginning of the conversation was like
00:06 that's not your bicycle, who's the real owner? You just stole it? That was the first
00:13 conversation from the police. So when the things happen that way, so I feel very, you know,
00:23 what did I say, offensive or like, I think that's something's wrong with the police that brings the
00:32 some kind of racist, you know, ideology to people like me. So at the first moment, they think I'm
00:42 the wrong criminal, maybe I stole it. I think things shouldn't be like that. After the changing
00:50 of Japan's situation, like many foreigners come in, many people who are born with different face,
00:56 but a Japanese citizen, or young children in school, there are many population of the foreigners
01:04 roots. So I think right now is the right moment to change for a good place. Over the years,
01:12 it has just accumulated many, many, many, many times with me, regardless if I'm driving or walking,
01:19 taking a train, riding my bicycle, it's just uncountable because there's no way
01:25 a police guy knows that this person has already been checked. Within me, it's very sad how a
01:31 country which is so modern in everything can be so cruel in the way they approach people who are
01:38 non-Japanese. There is no such system that the person, a civilian like me can always feel protected
01:45 and feel free to walk around because you don't know at any corner you can be stopped.
01:50 Eventually, I felt myself as part of social withdrawal. I never knew what social withdrawal
01:56 was until recently, which is hikikomori in Japanese, that I feel like every time I finish
02:01 work, I'm hiding in my house. And Tokyo is one of the greatest cities where people want to go,
02:07 but I don't want to go out. And I always tell myself, why can't I? And the reason is just
02:11 because I don't want to face another police. So nine out of ten times I know they will find a way
02:18 to stop. Being different is not wrong. It is not necessarily better. It's just different. So for
02:26 someone like me who is an immigrant and also part of the diaspora, I want people to know that just
02:33 because you are the nail that sticks up, that you don't necessarily have to be hammered down
02:39 without a fight. This is an everyday occurrence. It's an everyday thing. And that we have to do
02:43 something to prevent that for the future generations that are going to helpfully
02:49 keep this country going in the next two to three generations. So this is the first case about the
02:58 racial profiling. So it's about police questioning, racially discriminatory questioning.
03:09 It's very difficult for foreigners to sue against the government because they are worried about
03:16 their visa status. They are worried about being targeted by the police. So
03:20 actually it took two years to find a plaintiff for this lawsuit.