Article: As Gates, Crowley and Obama trade beers, racial profiling still an issue in Rochester

We ran a localized angle today on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates and the ensuing debate about racial profiling -- our story looked at the existence of racial profiling within Rochester.

Now, I had hesitation to write this story, not because I don't think it's an issue -- it is -- but localized stories run the risk of being exploitative of the local people involved, rather than taking a genuine look at the problem. Also, these story need to designate enough time and space to the local issue.

Too often, some media type will take a serious story like racial profiling and reduce it to, "Hey! You're a person of color! Surely you have an opinion on this situation across the country!"

That kind of stuff isn't journalism and it doesn't serve readers or the community. That simply re-opens scabs and scars without getting to the heart of any issue. Now, I'm not claiming that our take is the end-all, be-all article -- it isn't -- but I think we were able to highlight this issue without dumping cans of kerosene all over it.

We were able to find instances in the past of racial profiling and take a brief look at how things have changed since then. I still don't like the idea of trivializing something like racial bias on Rochester's streets to something that has become almost a tabloid national story. And I don't think we did.

But I'm interested to hear your impressions about that and racial bias as a whole. Story below:

(This article has a tenuous connection to education in that "Skip" Gates is a Harvard professor, but I figured it was worth re-posting. And I don't know why I called him "Skip," I've never met the man, but it's a cool nickname.)

Post-Bulletin article

By Elliot Mann
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

As Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Mass., police and President Obama sit down tonight to share a few beers and discuss racial profiling by police, similar talks have been happening for years in Rochester.

One local leader said the problem hasn't been eliminated here, but we're moving in the right direction. 

"It's not as bad as it once was, but it still exists," said W.C. Jordan, head of the Rochester chapter of the NAACP. "Progress has been made, but just like we see in the Gates case, some places have an overwhelming distrust with the police. It's hard to put a group of black people in a room and have them not tell them stories like that."

Rochester police have made changes to address concerns about bias, Police Chief Roger Peterson said.

Racial profiling hit the national spotlight when Crowley arrested Gates at the professor's home after the officer responded to a call of a possible break-in July 16. An argument ensued when the officer reached the home and began questioning Gates. The professor was arrested for disorderly conduct, although those charges have since been dropped.

In 2003, racial profiling came to light in Rochester when a state-funded traffic study showed black motorists were more likely to be searched than their white peers.

Jordan himself recalled at least 10 times when he was stopped by police on what he felt were unfair grounds. But he hasn't endured such an incident since 2002, he said.

Still, those events weigh heavily on a person's mind. Although Jordan thinks Gates could have handled the confrontation differently, he understands where the professor was coming from.

In responding to concerns from the community, Rochester Police Chief Roger Peterson said the department has voluntarily instituted changes in hopes of mitigating similar bias complaints.

For instance, the police department stopped "consent searches," which are performed at a traffic stop with the consent of a motorist. Police also stopped randomly running license plates as they passed by cars around town.

In September, Peterson said, the police department will hire a professional standards manager, a sort of police department ombudsman to proactively review how authorities are doing their jobs.

"Is the problem solved? Of course not," Peterson said. "I'm not at all saying that. But are we better educated and better informed? Yes we are. We're not just paying lip service to those concerns."

Other community organizations are also looking to join the discussion.

Rochester's Diversity Council has created an eight-person group to review the Olmsted County Bias/Hate Crime and Incident Response and Prevention Plan.

They are still in the early phases, but the group came together in light of bias crimes reported earlier this year, Diversity Council Executive Director Kay Hocker said.

"There are many people in our community who care deeply about each other," she said, "and we want to make sure we are exhibiting that care we have for all people."