Before You Write That Article On Racial Injustice, Profiling and The Jena 6......

You might want to check and and see if one of those little niggers isn't being arrested and charged with committing yet another crime.

ALEESA MANN
2/7/08
The Hilltop
Howard University

Racial profiling was the topic at hand as members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Howard students met on Capitol Hill in "An Evening with the CBC," an event held as part of the "I Am a Vote Week."

"This is a very important issue. It's not imaginary. It's real. If you look at the history of this country there has been selective enforcement since its inception," said U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams of Maryland. "When you contrast who's being pulled over and who's in court with the percentage of African Americans in this nation you know there is disproportionality of the criminal system hitting our people."

Panelists and students discussed issues of being singled out based on race and cited incidents of racial injustice including Shawn Williams, the Jena Six and Don Imus.

"Lives have been taken, people lost, families broken because of misinterpretation [base don race], so this is an epidemic," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. "We are long overdue for trying to find a legislative fix to this question."

"The words of Imus can be seen as racial profiling, because of his characterization of African-American women, then [we ask] is that the interpretation of law enforcement of someone who is driving a car? Same thing I would argue on the Jena '6' case," Lee said. "I think there is wide reaching opportunity to addressing the problem of racial profiling. Your support, your advocacy is going to be most important in this effort. I'm hoping that out of this will come some provocative legislation."

The audience listened attentively as the panelists discussed their experiences being accosted simply because of their race.

Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois expressed his astonishment at being pulled over. Howard professor of African-American studies, Gregory Carr, shared his experiences as well, and Judge Williams talked about the cases of racial injustice he had presided over.

"[Their experiences] show you that cops don't care if you're a member of Congress or a Howard University student. It shows that cops just discriminate," said Tashon Thomas, HUSA recording secretary and sophomore political science major.

The panelists also discussed recently proposed legislation slated to help put an end to racial profiling. The End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) of 2007 prohibits law enforcement from employing techniques of racial profiling in their practice. By requiring law enforcement to maintain adequate procedures, eliminate existing racial profiling procedures and having an appropriate system for filing complaints of racial profiling, the act aims to put an end to the unjust practice.

"As we think about this question of law enforcement we have to think about the question of racial profiling in a larger context," Carr said. He also proposed solutions to addressing the problem enforcing laws, punishing violators and providing sensitivity training for law enforcement as viable measures to combat racial profiling.

Students at the discussion found the discourse to be provoking and productive.

"[The discussion] brought forth a sense of the issue and how we need to confront it," said said Corey Briscoe, a freshman political science major. "I think we had the issue, and I think that it was reiterated again, but what we didn't have was a comprehensive solution, and now we understand what racial profiling is and what we as the black community need to do to endeavor over and beyond it. We're saying this is the issue, and this is how we're going to address it."

The event was organized by the College Democrats, College Republicans and HUSA organizations to help inspire students to become proactive in their local and national politics.

"I hope students take from the event what I initially took from my first visit to the Hill. I initially came to the hill for a class assignment. I knew nothing about politics, and like any other students I didn't really much care about politics," said Lauren Campbell, fundraising chair of the Howard College Democrats. "But then I just fell in love with the whole atmosphere. I was very interested after meeting my local representative. So basically if students can take away a passion for politics or just wanting to know more, that's very important."