October 19, 2016
Page 7
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the
Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and
story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
O PINION
Advancing Diversity in Law Enforcement
Here’s some
examples to
follow
M arC h. M orial
The
interagency
report just released
by the Justice De-
partment and Equal
Employment Oppor-
tunity Commission,
“Advancing Diversity
in Law Enforcement” is a wel-
come tool that examines those
key barriers as well as promising
practices in the recruitment, hir-
ing and retention of law enforce-
ment candidates that can advance
much-needed diversity in our law
enforcement agencies.
Developed with support from
the Center for Policing Equity,
the report aims to provide law
enforcement agencies, especially
small and mid-size agencies, with
a resource to enhance the diversity
of their workforce by highlighting
specific strategies and efforts in
by
place around the country:
Make sure that the police agen-
cy’s organizational culture is
guided by community policing (a
strategy of policing that focuses
on police building ties and
working closely with com-
munity members);
Follow procedural justice
(the idea of fairness in the
processes that resolve dis-
putes) and cultural inclusivi-
ty (welcoming and including
all people);
Engage stakeholders – both
from within and outside the law
enforcement agency – to help
create a workforce that reflects
the diversity of the community.
The report also called for po-
lice departments to be willing to
re-evaluate employment criteria,
standards, and benchmarks to en-
sure that they are tailored to the
skills needed to perform job func-
tions, and consequently attract,
select, and retain the most qual-
ified and desirable sworn officers.
The suggestions build on the
recommendations of the Presi-
dent’s Task Force on 21st Centu-
ry Policing, to which I provided
testimony on the National Urban
League’s 10-Point Plan for Po-
lice Reform and Accountability.
It emphasizes that “while greater
workforce diversity alone cannot
ensure fair and effective policing,
a significant – and growing – body
of evidence suggests that diversity
can make policing more effective,
more safe and more just.”
Police departments face chal-
lenges when it comes to the issue
of diversity in recruiting. In her
own testimony to the President’s
Task Force, NAACP Legal De-
fense Fund President Sherrilyn
Ifill, said of youth in poor com-
munities, “By the time you are
17, you have been stopped and
frisked a dozen times. That does
not make that 17-year-old want
to become a police officer …
The challenge is to transform the
idea of policing in communities
among young people into some-
thing they see as honorable. They
have to see people at local events
as the person who lives across the
street, not someone who comes
in and knows nothing about my
community.”
The report acknowledges those
barriers, noting that “Strained
relations and a lack of trust of
law enforcement may deter in-
dividuals from underrepresented
communities from applying to be
officers,” and “The reputation or
operational practices of law en-
forcement agencies may dissuade
applicants from underrepresented
communities from pursuing a ca-
reer in law enforcement.”
However, the report found that
a diverse police force that rep-
resents the population it serves
eases the tensions between the
police and African-American
communities, likely because:
Increased representation of
racial minorities increases the le-
gitimacy of the law enforcement
agency among minority residents;
A greater presence of officers
who are racial minorities not only
is likely to change the public’s
perception of the agency, but
these officers are also likely to
be more knowledgeable and em-
pathetic about the concerns and
culture of minority communities;
A higher number of minority
officers within an agency provide
opportunities for greater contact
and interactions between white
and minority officers, which can
shape attitudes and reduce nega-
tive opinions or stereotypes about
minority communities.
The presence of minority offi-
cers is likely to introduce differ-
ent perspectives into an agency,
and those perspectives can un-
dermine an unnecessarily rigid
response to certain events or per-
ceived threats.
The National Urban League
strongly urges law enforcement
agencies across the country to
not only read, but to also adopt
or adapt those successful diver-
sity-building efforts that have
already been implemented by se-
lected law enforcement agencies
outlined in this report.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.
Acknowledging Past and Sobering Present
Re-birth of a
racist nation
by K eith
M agee
In 1915, Pres-
ident Woodrow
Wilson hosted
a special White
House screening
of D.W. Grif-
fith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” a
film based on The Clansman, by
Wilson’s friend Thomas Dix-
on. The film was a racial marker
of the time - it portrayed Black
politicians as drunken buffoons
and set the stage for the Ku Klux
Klan’s savage attempts to remove
them from office.
While showing such a film
would spark outrage today, it re-
ally shouldn’t surprise us given
President Wilson’s track record
at the time: he segregated feder-
al workers in Washington, D.C.
and following World War I, he
blocked efforts to include racial
equality as a founding principle
of the League of Nations. Pretty
unsavory behavior for a sitting
president.
Movies have the ability to bring
us out of our everyday reality and
to take us into places of fiction
and nonfiction, to entertain us and
even awaken unconsciousness.
My all-time favorite movie is
director Kasi Lemmons’ “Eve’s
Bayou” set in our nation’s Deep
South. Louisiana bayous are
strange and wonderful places - a
world unto their own, overflow-
ing with a wealth of stories and
thematic possibilities. At the start
of the film, Lemmons introduces
us to the area’s enigmatic nature,
beginning with a declaration:
“Memory is a selection of im-
ages, some elusive, others printed
indelibly on the brain.”
One century after Birth of a
Nation premiered America is -
again - grappling with indelible
racism. A nation that seemingly
made progress in the election of
its first president of both, Afri-
can and white American heritage,
still sits amid painful memories.
Rather than America being fully
conscious of her progress, she
now appears to be travailing in
re-birth.
Arguably the “birther” inquisi-
tion of GOP presidential nominee
Donald Trump gave credence to
this resurgence. His questioning
of President Obama’s legitimacy
and identity wasn’t actually based
in concern about his being born in
America. Instead it speaks to an
inherent privilege to determine if,
where, how and to whom he be-
longed. America must acknowl-
edge its own gritty memory and at
times, sobering present.
Film director and actor Nate
Parker recently reclaimed the
“Birth of a Nation” title and re-
purposed his new film as a vehi-
cle to challenge racism and white
supremacy in America. He depicts
the same issues as the original
film, but from a different vantage
point: he points to slave rebel-
lion leader Nat Turner (played by
Parker) as his central character.
When Turner’s master positions
him as a preacher to fellow slaves
- and makes money from the
preaching engagements - Turner
begins to see the scope of slavery.
The system’s consequences are
pervasive and reach further than
he’d fully imagined. He decides
rather than being used for profit
he’d rather become a prophet.
Parker hopes his film will give
birth to “the kind of honest con-
frontation that will galvanize our
society toward healing and sus-
tained systemic change.” In a
riveting scene, Turner evokes his
fellow enslaved faith community
with a call towards justice: they
are the individuals creating Amer-
ica’s prominence and wealth, and
thereby deserve rights.
A friend told me that giving
birth to a child (beyond the agony
of labor) brings something “new”
into the world that you commit
to nurture and protect. It is also a
time of bringing two families to-
gether as one. Our nation is just a
few days from a moment that will
redefine the rebirthing of our na-
tion, from its economics to social
policies to the Supreme Court.
We need leaders who have
the capacity to adopt and nurture
America through cultural, heritage
and socio-economic growth. Mar-
tin Luther King Jr. said in Strength
to Love, “That there is a deep un-
derstanding for the need of agape;
a love that is concerned with go-
ing the extra mile to ensure the
well-being of others.”
My mother often tells me,
“Though I didn’t birth you in
my womb, I did birth you in my
heart.” A rebirth can only prevail
through this kind of love.
Keith Magee is a public intel-
lectual, theologian and social jus-
tice scholar. He divides his time,
equally, between Boston and Lon-
don.
The Law Offices of
Patrick John Sweeney, P.C.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd, Portland, Oregon
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
Facsimile:
Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com
Advertise with diversity in The Portland Observer
Call 503-288-0033
or email ads@portlandobserver.com