Wizard
When you call "racial profiling" a "buzz word" you are, in my opinion,
implying that it is somehow trendy and of the moment. Blacks and other
minorities have been struggling with the impact of the concept before it
had a name.
This is a complex issue. When the media get hold of an issue, there is a
tendancy to turn it into a buzz word. Suddenly Don Shelby is
pontificating about a new practice that is the news. The same can be said
for the newspapers. Their stories highlight the phenomenon and then
everything is seen through this lens. Yet the recipants of such police
behavior have been complaining all along that they are being
targeted. But since the "stops" are of individuals the mainstream media
(and by extention--the rest of the society) haven't seen a pattern. When
civil rights groups, black community leaders, and defense attorney
associations mount a public awareness campaign , then, after much too long
a time, it comes up on the public "radar screen."
Certainly the Minneapolis police department has a valuable perspective on
the patterns and practice of racial profiling. I, like Tim and some other
posters to this list, don't see how they can justify sitting on the data
and not finding a way of releasing the analyized data that is "above
reproach."
David Wilson'
Loring Park
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