Guest Columnist: Geo Moneto

VICE News has a new documentary that purports to show black people being unfairly targeted for traffic tickets. First, VICE News cherry picked a township in New Jersey that is notorious for aggressively pulling people over. Then VICE News blatantly lies about the racial makeup of the township.

VICE News repeatedly states that Bloomfield Township, NJ is “60% white,” but that whites only make up about 20% of the people charged with traffic citations. VICE News states that “nearly 80 percent of traffic tickets are issued to African American and Latino drivers.”

In the 2010 US Census, the population of Bloomfield Township is listed as 47.1% white. Between 2010 and 2015, the white percentage of the county went down. So it is probably less now. What VICE News did, was they used a figure that included white people plus all Latinos who did not explicitly list themselves as being a member of another ethnicity such as bi-racial, black, or other. They are counting the same Latinos as both white people and as minorities getting tickets!

VICE News also completely ignores the fact that Bloomfield Township is 9.3% Asian! Where do they fit in? Are they getting more or fewer tickets than whites?

VICE News intentionally misrepresented the census data. The entire premise of the documentary is based on a hoax. Under the guise of fighting racial division, VICE News is actually promoting racial hostility against white people. VICE News is simply trying to advance a far-left political agenda with fake data.

VICE News admits that over half the tickets go to people who live out of town. But they don’t talk about the surrounding communities. Bloomfield Township is in Essex County, NJ. According to the 2015 US Census Estimate, the county is only 32.2% white.

Essex County, NJ is 41.9% black and 32.2% white. Since blacks and Latinos, on average, commit traffic offenses at higher rates than white people, the figure of 80% of all citations suddenly does not seem shocking at all.

If VICE News wanted to do a documentary suggesting that the Township was giving out frivolous tickets, then I would be sympathetic. I oppose giving frivolous revenue generating citations to members of any race. I oppose pulling people over for frivolous reasons, regardless of race. That is not what VICE News did. They used a blatant falsehood to promote a political agenda that demonizes white people.