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NAACP battles racial profiling

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The NAACP, following up on its anti-racial profiling work in New York and around the nation, last month released what it is calling a groundbreaking report that details laws, cases and makes a set of recommendations geared toward eliminating the practice among law enforcement.

“Born Suspect: Stop-and-Frisk Abuses and the Continued Fight to End Racial Profiling in America,” was compiled by the organization’s Criminal Justice Committee and uses the NAACP’s battle to end stop-and-frisk in New York City as a framework to look at this issue on a national basis.

Among the findings in the report is a look at anti-profiling laws nationwide; an exploration of the human impact of the practice; an assessment of the problem beyond New York; and a set of recommendations of what can be done.

In “Born Suspect,” the NAACP found that 20 states have no laws explicitly prohibiting racial profiling while 30 states do have some form of law on the books regarding the practice. But not one state meets all of the organization’s criteria of an effective racial profiling law.

Racial profiling, according to the report is a “deeply rooted phenomenon that dates backs to the days of colonial armies, slavery, Jim Crow and segregation.” Yet despite how tightly the practice is interwoven into our society, research has shown that it is an ineffective method of policing that opens the door to police abuses that far too frequently lead to tragedies.

Probably the most common consequence, noted the report, are feelings of alienation, humiliation, degradation, resentment and even fear on the part of those profiled.

In fact, Gemar Mills, the principal of Malcolm X Shabazz High School in New Jersey, who was quoted in the report says stop-and-frisk “reduces your self-confidence . . . it’s no different than getting robbed. Getting put up against the wall, it’s no different than someone stealing your stuff. It can be traumatizing. For the police, they let you go; it’s no harm, no foul. But it can make children feel the community has given up on their chances to be successful.”

The “Born Suspect” report contains two-and-a-half pages of recommendations that address racial profiling from a national, state and local level.

The first recommendation for advocates is to push for congressional approval of the End Racial Profiling Act.

First introduced in both houses of Congress in June 2001, the legislation aims to ban racial profiling on all levels of government, provide provisions for data collection and monitoring, include training, and offer sanctions and remedies for violations of the law.

The report also calls on the Department of Justice to update the federal racial profiling guidance, which was issued in 2003. The NAACP said the revisions should also cover profiling based on national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity (gay, lesbian and transgender people, particularly those of color face significant discrimination. A 2014 national survey indicated that 73 percent of LGBT people and people with HIV report having had face-to-face contact with the police.)

The report also suggests eliminating loopholes allowing profiling to occur under the guise of national security; and insuring that the guidelines apply to every state or local agency receiving funds from or working in cooperation with federal law enforcement agencies; and finally to include enforcement mechanisms.

The NAACP also notes that advocates should push for strong anti-profiling legislation on the local and state levels.

Beyond the recommendations, “Born Suspect” also includes a listing of the components for an effective advocacy campaign including building a diverse and strategic coalition; and mobilizing members of the impacted communities.

It also at its core, is a foundation upon which advocates can build to end racial profiling and save young African American lives.

Locally, one NAACP chapter is holding a series of events to address the problem.

The NAACP-Riverside Branch is responding to these recent killings by law enforcement of young Black males with a call for the community to take pre-emptive action and will host “Blurred Lines-Standing Up for Justice,” a movement with four tiers. The purpose is to start a dialogue addressing the concerns of the ongoing violence in the community and understanding the connection between Black-on-Black crimes versus general brutality in the community.

The first community forum took place last month, and the remaining events include a special performance of “Dreamscape,” the play based on the shooting by police officers of 19-year-old Tyisha Miller in 1998 as she sat in her car. The performance takes place Oct. 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caesar Chavez Community Center in Riverside.

Part two takes place on Oct. 27 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Living Way Christian Fellowship in Moreno Valley.

It features a panel of leaders including: Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz; Moreno Valley Police Chief Joel Ontivero; Stinson Brown of the Los Angeles Police Department; Byron Woods of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; Riverside NAACP branch President Waudieur “Woodie” Rucker Hughes; E.M. Abdulmumin, executive director of Dubois Institute; Terry Boykins, CEO of Street Positive; Aquil Basheer, award-winning lecturer, author and crisis intervention specialist; Carolyn Murray, professor of psychology at University of California Riverside; and moderator Imam Terry Taalib Major, Riverside NAACP Criminal Justice Chair.

The series of programs will conclude with a “Put Down Your Guns” peace rally on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cross Word Christian Church in Moreno Valley.

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