In order to help more students on campus understand a situation many minority students regularly face, the Oregon Students of Color Coalition and ASUO are coordinating a full week of events on racial profiling by police.
Students taped video and audio stories in the Multicultural Center on Monday, describing incidents when they were treated unfairly by police. The audio tapes will be played through the loudspeaker from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday in the EMU amphitheater.
On Thursday at 6 p.m., a panel, including state Rep. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) and law enforcement professionals, will field questions about upcoming legislation and racial profiling in general. The location for the event is yet to be announced.
There will also be a rally at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in front of Johnson Hall. Jamila Singleton, who is working with the coalition, said the overall goal of the campaign is basic: to raise awareness about racial profiling.
State legislation is important, Singleton said, to “make police accountable for why they pull people over.”
The panel will focus on the legislative efforts in Oregon. Only eight states currently have laws on the books for police to collect racial and ethnic data. According to OSA documents, there is no correlation between race and the probability of committing a crime, but 70 percent of people searched in vehicles on the nation’s highways are people of color.
Students who wish to support a bill sponsored by Walker, which would require police to collect demographic information, can sign “citations” to representatives available at tables by the amphitheater. OSCC has already collected 300 of the makeshift tickets, which they will present to the Oregon legislature.
OSCC representatives have also placed lawn signs containing statistics throughout campus and distributed backpack signs to spotlight this issue.
The red and white signs, which read “I am a moving target,” are meant to draw attention to students of color. All students of color are encouraged to wear the signs, whether they feel they have been the target of racial profiling or not.
“I’m a person of color, and that is essentially saying I am a target to police,” said Kawezya Hutchinson, the ASUO Federal Affairs coordinator.
Hutchinson, a freshman, will bring the video testimonials to Washington D.C. to play before congress for Student Lobby Day on March 13.
During the taped testimonials Monday, Andric Brown, a junior public relations major, described an extreme incident in which he said he was unfairly charged and beaten by police.
In his three years at the University, Brown said he has been stopped nine or 10 times, but he had fewer problems in Portland, where he is from.
“It’s normal now; I’m just used to it,” he said.
If students have incidents of racial profiling they would like to share, they can call 346-0631 to arrange for a taping.