Sorry, David, my bad. What I know is that turning a serious issue into a buzz
word without any agreement on what it actually means (an I don't know exactly
what it means), gives rise to Don Shelby pontificating and it dismisses the
issue to something small and hideable. This issue should not be small-ized.
That's what I mean by becoming a buzzword.
David Wilson wrote:
> 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."
I agree.
> 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."
I don't see any reason not to release it, cause the truth will probably set
you free, and moreover, we won't get a solution without looking at the
problem. That's a no brainer.
What I also saw in Creg Hestness' opinion piece and in other list posts, was a
huge gulf filled with a roaring stream of mis-trust going both ways. Hestness
asks, if we give you this info, will you use it as a club to beat us with.
That's a fair question. So how do we get to the point where we can say, OK,
polices, this was your bad (if that turns out to be true) how are you gonna
fix it, how can we help you fix it, and, can we trust you to fix it. I don't
have the answer to my questions. Further, being the daughter of a petty
criminal, I was raised to keep the police at more than arm's length, so I'm
also asking myself to get past some of my conditioning.
Wizard Marks, Central
>
>
> David Wilson'
> Loring Park
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