Earlier this year, a coalition of Nebraska organizations held a Forum on Racial Profiling with Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, as the keynote speaker.
The forum investigated the many different forms and consequences of racial profiling, proving that there is great truth in what Alexander wrote: “We have not ended racial caste in America: we have merely redesigned it.” The War on Drugs, post 9/11 national security enforcement, and recent attempts to pass Arizona-style “show me your papers” laws all threaten to further codify racial profiling into our legal system and redefine an unfair racial caste system in America.
On Saturday, you are invited to join us at the Malcolm X Foundation for Part 2 of the forum and discuss strategies and solutions to the problem of racial profiling in Nebraska. The forum’s keynote speakers will be Marcela Diaz, Executive Director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Sian OFaolain, Field Organizer for the Rights Working Group. ACLU’s Alan Peterson and UNO Professor Sam Walker also will talk about current Nebraska law and policy and join the group to discuss strategies to end racial profiling.
Diaz and Somos were part of a coalition that helped organize and pass the “Prohibition of Profiling Practices Act” in New Mexico. The Act prohibits bias-based policing and mandates practical policy standards that support effective policing practices. The group recently released a report on the Act, Biased Based Policing at a Glance: An Evaluation of Compliance with the Prohibition of Profiling Practices Act of 2009. See the recent interview by Colorlines with Diaz.
OFaolain is a field organizer for Rights Working Group, a national civil and human rights coalition with more than 300 members that coordinates the Racial Profiling: Face the Truth campaign against all forms of racial profiling in criminal justice, immigration enforcement and national security. She works with organizations around the country and provides support to local and state campaigns against racial profiling.
The Forum is free and open to the public, but registration is required. CLICK Here to Register or go to http://neappl.es/ONcVhH Lunch will be provided.
What: Forum on Racial Profiling – Taking Action!
When: Saturday, August 18, 2012, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Where: Malcolm X Foundation, 3448 Evans St., Omaha, NE
Register online at http://neappl.es/ONcVhH
Sponsored by Nebraska Appleseed, Black Men United, ACLU Nebraska, Heartland Workers Center, Malcolm X Foundation, Progressive Research Institute, and Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition.