Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

By Alissa Fleck

What do dogs need in order to thrive while their human companions are away? Opinions may vary on the subject—between minimalists and pet pamperers—but D Pet Hotels, soon to arrive in Chelsea, has luxury down. They can guarantee your pet won’t miss you too much while you’re away.

The luxury pet hotel recently opened a location in Scottsdale, Arizona after its initial success in Hollywood. Now the chain is taking on New York City, and New Yorkers love their dogs, so the hotel’s lavish amenities will likely come as a shock to no one.

D Pet Hotels caters exclusively to dogs, and the New York edition will feature 10,000 square feet of pooch paradise. The hotel’s rooms offer full-size beds and flat-screen TVs, while the hotel itself boasts a doggie gym, lounge, spa, boutique and chauffeur service, reports the Daily News. (Once your dog gets a taste of the human bed experience, he may be reluctant to come back home.)

Dog parks at D Pet Hotels are air-conditioned, chauffeur cars are Lamborghinis and Porsches and the boutique carries only the classiest, organic dog treats and plushest beds.

According to the News, “The spa menu includes ‘pawdicures’ and oil treatments for dry coats. The fitness service offers a private fitness trainer and a chef-made meal including brown rice with vegetables, lamb or chicken.”

The News also reports luxury dog hotels like D Pet Hotels are becoming increasingly popular, perhaps a surprising trend considering the economic recession and, particularly, New York human living space becoming ever tinier.

It’s not exclusively an American trend though—the arrival of D Pet Hotels in Chelsea also comes on the heels of the eight-story doggie love hotel being built in Brazil.

Meanwhile, a pet hotel in Melbourne, Australia is perhaps the most decked out yet—it features “push button sliding glass doors and personal automatic fresh water drinkers…and under-floor heating,” reports the News.

Of course, many will argue economic downturn or not, it should have no bearing on how we pamper our cuddly, furry companions.

This strange claim raises an important question: How can a law, that is in essence made to target immigrants only, avoid racial profiling?

The answer is quite simple: It can’t. It only takes a little common sense to see that the only ones who will be targeted by those ‘random’ ID checks will be people of color. A white man wearing jeans and who speaks without an accent is much, much less likely to have his legal status randomly checked by the police than, say, his Latino-looking counterpart.

I honestly doubt that people who are in favor of this law will ever seriously argue that this is not the case. However, there are other ways to justify this seemingly discriminative provision. And indeed, this is where we must dive into the real question: Is racial profiling really that bad?

Defenders of the law will say that there is nothing outrageous about it: Show me your papers is just a normal procedure to verify the legal status of suspicious people. If your papers are in order, you have nothing to worry about! And if they aren’t, well, you shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

This justification seems a little borderline to me. Remember that the good ol’ “If you’ve done nothing wrong then what’s the problem?” was once the cornerstone on which fascism was built. You know, having the Stasi secretly listening in on your phone conversations is fine, they are just laying down the law. That kind of stuff. But there needs to be a limit to the state’s ability to intrude in our personal lives. Otherwise, we may just be headed towards an Orwellian disaster.

Predictions of apocalypse aside, let us consider the argument. The law is just because even if it discriminates, the people who are affected are criminals in the first place. Well that’s not entirely true. Even assuming that illegal immigrants deserve to be found out, jailed and exported back to their country of origin, can we really say that this law won’t affect those other immigrants, those who are here legally?

The answer is: not really (yeah I know, spoiler.) Setting people apart because of their color is basic discrimination, even if you don’t arrest them. Racial profiling is a real issue, one that poses a direct threat to one of the most basic fabrics of well-functioning societies: Trust.

I think I owe it to all those skeptics out there to explain my reasoning. Since my reasoning is based on experience, I think it relevant to share those experiences with you. And what better place to experience racial profiling than in our favorite European country? I am referring of course to the cradle of multiculturalism and diversity, our beloved République Française.

You see, France is one of the rare developed countries in the world that upholds a law similar to the ‘Show Me Your Papers’ provision. A police officer is authorized to verify the identity of any person, at any time, without any justification. If said person doesn’t carry their papers, the policeman / woman can take him into custody to verify identity and legal status, and to hold that person for up to 4 hours.

I have personally witnessed several of those so-called controles d’identité. Several conditions are required for such a procedure to take place, conditions which I will now attempt to recreate in the midst of my narrative delirium. Here we go.

First, there needs to be a group of young people. Second, one or more of them has to be Arab, or Black, or some kind of minority. Third, you get a bonus if the group is doing something “suspicious”, like sitting on a bench, for example (damn kids!) But, don’t worry, if being suspicious isn’t your thing, you can also just walk down the street. Remember, you just need to make sure that you are with someone who remotely looks like an immigrant, or (even better!), be one yourself, and you’ll be fine. Moving on.

So you’re sitting on your bench, waiting for a friend, or checking out girls, or feeding the birds, or… (Seriously, what do people do on benches?) Then, as you look around, you realize that you are completely surrounded by three to eight (yes, eight) police officers, usually on bikes (sneaky bastards.) Now the fun can begin.

So the cops form a circle around you and menacingly ask for your ID. I feel that I should emphasize the “menacing” part here. In my own experience at least, I have very rarely met polite and amiable cops, especially when I was with friends of color. Well, maybe in Germany. But ok, so they want to see your papers, up until now nothing too shabby.

In an awesome effort to offer the most complete experience possible, I have devised three (you may clap in awe) different scenarios, that each take into account two variables: Availability of identification documents, and skin color.

First possibility. You don’t have your papers, but you’re white. That usually means you can leave. Unless you seem to associate with potential immigrants. Ok, I was just testing you there, as you will remember that the police would have never approached you in the first place if it wasn’t for your slightly over-tan friends.

Second possibility. You don’t have your papers, and you’re not white either. Free trip to the police station! They take you there, search you from head to toes, sit you down in a cell for 4 hours (always at least 4 hours, sometimes more), don’t give you any food or water, and occasionally insult you or hit you, depending on your reaction to all this. Once they find out that you are a French citizen who just happened not to carry his passport around, they reluctantly let you go. Unless you’re a minor, in which case they will have the pleasure of calling your parents at 3AM so that they can come pick you up.

Ok, now for the third possibility, which is really the one that is of interest to us. You’re not white, but you do have your papers! How lucky is that? Surely they’ll let you go now. Well, not really. In fact, checking your ID is often only the beginning. Then follows the search. Empty your pockets, take off your shoes, let my slightly overweight colleague grab your testicles with his scruffy hands (this actually happened to me.) If you’re lucky, you may even get a private tour of our van for a good’ ole strip search.

All the while, you are of course submitted to intense psychological pressure, with the “good cop” telling you that you’d better give them everything you have and they’ll let you go, while the other grumbles that if he finds anything you’ll spend the rest of your life locked up with a bunch of rats in some kind of medieval torture dungeon. Scary stuff, especially for a 13 year old (my first controle d’identité!)

Now, searches are extremely common during those “routine ID checks”, especially when the conditions are fulfilled (you know, young, foreign-looking, sitting on a bench…) There seems to be this implicit assumption that anyone under 30 carries at least a few grams of pot with them at all times, or maybe a deadly weapon, or an extinct breed of slow loris perhaps.

Well, ok, let’s say they don’t find any of these things, either because you are Houdini’s nephew, or that you actually are innocent (yeah, right.) In theory, that’s when they let you go. In theory. However, if it so happens that they don’t like your face, or think that you gave them too much attitude while the fat one had his hand down your pants, there is always a way to bring you in.

A friend of mine once got arrested (and spent 12 hours at the station) because he was “drunk.” He had had one beer, was neither driving nor aggressive (although understandably slightly pissed off,) and when they later made him blow in the balloon, it turned out he had a little under 0.2g in his blood (the legal limit is 0.5.) Oh, and he was also Lebanese. Of course, in this situation, there is nothing you can do. The more you protest, the more they’ll want to bring you in. And good luck trying to get their name and badge number and filing an official complain. Seriously, you’ll need it.

Ok, enough of the traumatizing French experience. I think you get it. But in case you don’t, or you didn’t bother to read, here are a few conclusions to be drawn:

1. “Random” ID checks and searches always target the same demographic, i.e. people of color.

2. The consequences of these repeated humiliations on new generations of immigrants are multiple and not very positive. Most importantly, the trust between the community and the police, if there ever was any, has suffered a severe blow. In fact, a large majority of French youngsters literally hate the cops. Like, really despise them. This of course leads to a vicious cycle, whereby cops feel hated and insulted everywhere they go, and in turn start hating right back, which only makes things worse, etc. I personally tend to feel less safe when I see a police patrol, even if I have done nothing wrong.

3. Perhaps even more distressing is the consequence of this policy on the general immigrant community, and on their relationship with the rest of the French population. Growing feelings of segregation and discrimination have laid the groundwork for the emergence of an “us versus them” mentality between immigrants and the rest. Being constantly hunted down by the police, and seeing that same police indulging the white kid, you may not feel very welcome. Quite the opposite in fact.

For me, the bottom line is this: Most people don’t really seem to know how absolutely degrading and annoying it is to get searched by the police on a regular basis. Not only does it make you miss out on, you know, your life and plans (“oh, so you have the concert of your life tonight? In that case we’ll let you go… lol”) It also puts you in a mental state where you constantly feel like you have to justify yourself. Like you are constantly being hunted down, and on the run. Even if your only crime is to have been born in another country.

The bottom line is that nobody really wants to go through a police ID check, wether guilty or innocent. It is a humiliating and degrading process during which you are completely powerless and at the mercy of the uniforms. Besides, there is very little control on the individual actions of police officers on duty.

Here’s an experiment for you: Do you best to get stopped by the cops, and when they ask for your ID, ask them to see a badge, or anything that proves that they actually are police officers (a defying and insolent tone works best.) Then close your eyes and count how many second it takes for that stick to hit you on the head.

Now of course I am not saying that all cops are racist redneck bastards who should have no authority but to give parking tickets. Far from it. Police officers are providing an essential service to society and deserve to be valued as such. What I am saying is that policies such as the ‘Show me your Papers’ provision, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, are bound to completely destroy any kind of progress made in the fields of “integration” and ‘tolerance,” and eventually dismantle any kind of trust that could have been fostered between police officers and immigrant communities. Laws such as this are an open invitation to discrimination, simply because they essentially demand from the police that they profile people based on their race. Racial profiling is real. And such laws are tailor-made to encourage it.

On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that largely amends Arizona’s controversial 2010 anti-immigration law. However, despite ruling out several important elements, the court upheld the “show me your papers” provision, which authorizes police officers to operate random identity checks on “suspicious” persons.

By Laurent Berstecher

The Court ruled out three key provisions of the SB-1070 bill for going against the constitution, leading to the following changes:

1. It is now no longer legal for police officers to arrest immigrants on probable cause charges (e.g. without a warrant)
2. It is no longer a crime for immigrants not to carry identification and registration papers with them
3. It is no longer a crime for illegal immigrants to look for a job or solicit work

However, it maintained what is perhaps the most controversial aspect of SB-1070. The provision, which has cynically been nicknamed the “show me your papers” law by its opponents, basically enables police officers to undertake ‘random’ identification checks, provided that there is “reasonable suspicion.”

Critics have voiced their discontent at this half-decision, claiming that the “show me your papers” provision remains one of the most dangerous aspects of the law and that it will lead to instances of racial profiling.

While a step in the right direction, Monday’s ruling will have left many pundits bitter and disappointed.

City Council speaker Christine Quinn praised the Court’s decision, but deplored that it did not go all the way, adding that upholding the “show me your papers” provision undermined “the ideal that America was founded on […] the welcome and support of every person who comes into this nation in pursuit of the American Dream.”

Meanwhile, President Obama also expressed his concerns in a written statement, pointing out that “No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like.”

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who signed the original SB 1070 back in 2010, assured the public that police officers were receiving special training not to profile people based on their skin colors. However, as many critics duly pointed out, random immigration status checks are in essence targeted towards people of color.

We spoke with M. Walter Barrientos, Program Officer at the North Star Fund, an organization supporting immigrant communities in New York. Along with his parents and sister, Barrientos left Guatemala in 1996 in pursuit of a better life. In a turn of fate, Barrientos was offered a special visa after he was attacked by a gang and collaborated with the police on the investigation. However, he told us that his parents only got their visas processed in January, 16 years after they came to the United States.

“I know first-hand how it feels to be taken apart from the group,” says Barrientos, referring to his past experiences with racial profiling. Before he obtained his visa, recent-graduate Barrientos was on a train to Chicago when immigration officers proceeded to a ‘random’ sweep. “They told me to follow them, and took everyone who wasn’t white into questioning.” Walter and the others illegals were detained in a high security prison for three days, after which he was released on a $10,000 bail. “I got lucky, I had connections,” Barrientos says. “Everyone else got deported.”

Walter Barrientos’ views on Monday’s ruling reflect the majority of the public’s opinion. While he sees it as an encouragement for future battles, he cannot bring himself to call the Court’s decision a victory.

“The Court definitely struck down some of the weaker provisions, but the one that could have the most impact was upheld,” says Barrientos. “[Show me your papers] makes it the most difficult because it breaks the trust between the community and the police.”

Walter Barrientos also expressed his concerns that police officers will increasingly double as “immigration agents.” And this is not limited to Arizona either. Not only will the Supreme Court’s ruling set a precedent for similar immigration laws to be passed in other states, but the City of New York has recently begun implementing an aggressive immigration program known as Secure Communities, which aims to reinforce cooperation between local police, the FBI and the ICE.

While the Supreme Court’s crackdown on parts of Arizona’s controversial immigration law certainly holds hope for the future, prospects largely remain gloomy and uncertain for many immigrant communities in America.

Photo courtesy of Andres Altamirano Photography

I wasn’t sure what to expect walking over to Milano’s Bar on Houston and Lafayette to meet two of the band members from the new punk rock set, Weird Womb. Their music rings of the careless trash bashing rock of the early 80′s. The pearl of punk, when it was forming in New York City’s downtown shell. It’s noise from boredom, but it isn’t put on like many of the other rock acts today. It doesn’t sound lethargic, but frenetic.

Of his childhood spent in Tucson, Arizona, lead singer Dakota Pollack said, “I’ve never met so many talented burnouts.” I meet him and guitarist, Eric Reeves, who is sitting at the grimy bar top. We make our way to the back to a quiet little table to chat about loud noises. The two of them are string beans, deceivingly tall, from the way they hunch over their beers sitting down. The locale they’ve chosen makes me like them more. Often when interviewing bands, they choose a sorta divey hole-in-the-wall. Divey enough that it smells like stale beer, but nice enough that they’ve got Rick’s Artisanal Pickle juice if you want a shot of “Jamie” and juice. This place doesn’t have pickle juice, but it’s got beer, well drinks, and Fred, a drunk, upfront who the barwoman is telling to settle up his tab.

As we sit Dakota notices a book poking out of my jacket pocket and asks me about it. I say its a “girly book” and recommended to me by a friend. He laughs and says at least I’m reading something. I ask him what he reads. “A sh*t load man, but I like the classics. I’ve been reading Raymond Queaneau lately. He’s a break off from realism, a mathematician, so it’s all mathematics in literature. It’s crazy,” he answers. “He did this one book called 99 Exercises in Style. He tells this story 99 different ways, using different themes. It’s insane. Funny as hell.”

These boys are good in my book.

How’d Weird Womb come together?

Dakota: Well we all come from the weird capital of the world, Tucson, Arizona. All there is to do down there is lose your mind. Everyone’s out of their mind. We all ended up in New York City somehow, intentionally or unintentionally. We’ve all been best friends since we were young. Eric and me met when we were ten years old getting busted in elementary school.

What’d you get busted for?

D: Some kid got beat up and got a concussion. A bunch of kids got called to the office for it. Eric and me were already known troublemakers so we got fingerprinted for it. We were walking out of the office with out heads down in shame, and we were like, “friends?”

What lead you to NYC?

Eric: I came here in 2006, right after high school. I wanted to continue my education, but it just didn’t happen. I was working. I Had a couple of internships. Slowly, one by one we all started moving here. Inevitably, we all started playing music together.

D: I went to Europe for a while and I was going to move to LA, but the cheapest ticket was to New York. So I came here, but I ran out of money once I got here. It came to the point where I was so dejected and rejected by everywhere. I was living off the generosity of my friends, walking across the bridge with fucked up shoes, and then suddenly I got a job. I made some money. So I stayed and now I work over at 169 Bar.

E: I’m over at the Rivington Hotel as a bellman.

D: Punk rock doesn’t pay the bills.

How’s punk rock doing in the city? It’s in a pretty depressing state, no?

E: I don’t think there is a state of punk rock in the city right now. I think it’s been taken over by low-fi chillwave stuff.

D: Some people are attempting to do what’s pre-approved. They’re all about getting the column on Pitchfork rather than doing anything relevant. Rimbaud said one must be absolutely modern. I think one must be absolutely relative to their time period. I think people are going back to the past and stealing it, which is fine, but they’re not creating their own identity or sound out of it. Seeing a band now… it’s predictable. A guy is dressed like Steven Tyler and you can assume he’ll sing a 70’s song about “baby in the backseat of the car.” It becomes so regurgitated and redundant that you want to find something you can relate to. We have the media outlets to do something cool, but no one’s doing it. It’s sad that kids can’t find their own voice.

E: It’s so much easier to monetize a low-fi band rather than a punk band.

There’s a similarity, but there’s not much of a message to low-fi.

E: They’re a little softer around the edges.

D: Say this was the 80’s in LA. Those kids that are playing low-fi now, would be playing hair band music. They’re still pretending to walk down the red carpet, dodging paps.

Another problem is this misconceived notion that punk is either Fall Out Boy or Rancid. Either it’s pop tween bubble gum, or it’s mohawks and sneers. I hear your stuff and I think the beginning roots of punk like Richard Hell or the New York Dolls.

D: It’s funny because you show a picture of Richard Hell to a kid today and they won’t think that’s punk. This one guy was wearing an Exploited Punk’s Not Dead shirt and he comes up to me and says, “Cody you listen to some sh*tty punk music. Like that brit pop idiot Richard Hell.” I was like, yeah man brit pop. Television were the guys that founded CBGB, today they’d be dismissed as an art band. Punk is a movement where you can be yourself and do whatever you want but I think somewhere along the line it got skewed.

E: It’s important to have the sh*tty bands you grow up with as a kid though. Limp Bizkit is hysterical man, and they shaped us in a way that we probably won’t ever understand. Were they good? No. But it’s fun. All those bands are so ridiculous.

So what are you guys trying to be?

D: We want to have a sense of humor. We’re just a bunch of good-natured sh*theads. You walk around New York and you see these delusional people who are depressed and attractive and can’t show any emotion. The music I like I found a relationship with the records, and I’m able to be okay with that. I want to connect with people and I think that’s so rare. I’m not going to be one of those guys who’s like “punk rock saved my life.” It was there, and it was great, but it didn’t save my life.

What’s your performance style?

D: We’re human beings man, having fun.

E: At our last set we played our stuff for 20 minutes. Then we stopped, and played some bluesy dad rock and it was rad. It was fun. We just want to have a good time.

What does Weird Womb mean?

D: We’re really weird dudes. A lot of people are pretending to be weird, and I’m telling you it ain’t that great.

That’s a word that has infinite meaning. What’s “weird” mean to you?

D: We came from a weird womb. There’s this bar we used to hang out in Tucson and we’ve been going there for years, and then it caught on that it was a cool place. Then I started showing up and kids I went to high school with—jocks who called me a fag—were there wearing “Legalize Gay Marriage” shirts, not because they believe in it, but because it’s hip. These kids would push me and spit on me, and ridicule us for being weirdos. Now they’re trying to be the weird ones. Or speak for them and assimilate in this backwards way.

How does Tucson work it’s way into the music

E: The freedom we had growing up there, allowed us to take that freedom in our adulthood. We go 3,000 miles away and do whatever the hell we want.

Tucson to Manhattan. What’s the culture shift like?

D: We were so surrounded by weird people in Tucson, that we were desensitized. New York City seems tame man. Being yourself is key.

E: Yeah, that made my move a little bit easier. In Tucson at one point I could be having a conversation with some suits, and then having a conversation with some meth heads or bums.

D: That’s true! You kind of found out that you find more sincerity in a meth head than a professional photographer.

Well there’s the idea of neediness with those people. Addiction filters into the need for company as well.

D: One term I hate is networking. What can you do for me? Who cares? I’m a person. Sit down and enjoy our company.

E: It’s one thing to have a community. It’s another to have a network.

Weird Womb will play at The Wooly, 11 Barclay St. (betw. Broadway & Church St.) on Thursday, Mar. 8., with Cruisin’ USA and Behavior. For more info visit their soundcloud at http://soundcloud.com/weird-womb.