Community addresses county's racial issues

About 125 concerned community members attended the city of Bloomington's Commission on the Status of Black Males and the Safe and Civil City Program's meeting last night at City Hall to discuss the topic of "Race, School Discipline, and Criminal Justice." The meeting was held to discuss racial issues surrounding black males in the Monroe County Community School Corporation and the county's legal system.\nThe meeting consisted of five panelists, a moderator and concerned members of the community who came together in an effort to assist the commissioners in finding new ways to address racial problems.\n"In 2001-2002, black males were 2.8 times as likely to be expelled from Monroe County Schools as were their white counterparts; in 2002-2003 blacks were around four times as likely," said Russ Skiba, IU associate professor in education and panelist.\nAccording to the CSBM, from 2000-2003 black males were expelled for up to 15 more days on average than white males, although there was no indication in the study of blacks committing more serious offenses. The problem, however, extends further than just schools in Monroe County.\n"The average sentence of black males for misdemeanors and class D felonies are about twice as long as for white males in Monroe County," said Guy Loftman, founder of the Racial Justice Task Force and panelist. Loftman went on to explain that in the same task force study in 2000 of the 483 black males and 483 white males who were booked in Monroe County and sampled, the black males were held in jail for about twice as long as the white males.\nHowever, according to the study, racial profiling in the Monroe County legal system is not a problem. In 2000, police-initiated stops accounted for about 50 percent of white male arrests and about 33 percent of black male arrests, which went against expectations and ruled out profiling as a reason for the problems.\nMonroe County schools have begun to recruit minorities to work in the school system as a way to combat the internal problems, said Gary Plaford, director of Social Services for the MCCSC. \nThere were many ideas at the meeting on ways to improve the situation. Loftman proposed more informative meetings with citizens going through the criminal justice system. He pointed out that the "failure to appear" rate was much higher for black males than it was for white males.\n"They hand you a huge stack of papers, and it's a very confusing day for many people," Loftman said about court dates for citizens. \nLoftman went on to propose that the system should do a better job of informing citizens of exactly what they have to do and when they have to appear. He believes this will help battle the high rate of failure to appear in court by black males, which often times results in re-arrest.\nThe meeting ended with a question and answer session with the community members.\nMonroe County Judge Viola Taliaferro left attendees with the notion it will take the entire community to fix the county's racial problems, not just those directly affected.\n-- Contact staff writer Robert Schmitt at rsschmit@indiana.edu.