Wood backs anti-racial profiling bill

Saying racial profiling may not be correctable with one wave from a legal wand, Chicago Human Relations Commissioner Clarence Wood Thursday backed a Springfield bill that will help end unfair police stops, or, "driving-while-Black."

Unable to get this bill passed under the leadership of former Illinois Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-Wood Dale), with new Senate President Emil Jones Jr, Wood and other state officials are hopeful this bill and other progressive legislation will sail through both chambers.

Wood is hoping that the anti-racial profiling bill, which requires the three-year collection of demographic data on traffic stops made by law enforcement officials, will pass.

Besides documenting police stops, aimed at ending officers from stopping minority motorists based on race, Wood said Senate Bill 30 also mandates training and it spells out the action needed to improve relations between police and the community and relations between the criminal justice system and minorities.

"The public has been disquieted by accounts of racial profiling in the Metropolitan Chicago area in recent years which reveal differential police treatment of minorities," said Wood.

"Some alleged abusive practices ... targeted Hispanics with cowboy hats and baseball caps, and police verbiage cited the skin color of Blacks. Fairminded citizens have found such behavior absolutely unacceptable," he said.

"Racial profiling may not be correctable with one wave from a legal wand," said Wood.

"The abuses of profiling have deep roots in obstructionist attitudes against police behavior being changed through culturally sensitive training programs and a similarly culturally competent delivery system."

He challenged the media to be accountable and to "become more representative of people of color and tell their stories better" on the issue of "driving-while-Black" or brown who are routinely stopped based on the color of their skin.

"Otherwise," he warned, "law-enforcement officers and citizens alike are left with the impression that every African American and Hispanic is likely to be carrying a gun and en route to committing a crime, or that anyone who looks Arab is a likely terrorist."

Referring to his 2001 report that assessed changes in the human relations climate over the past decade, Wood said the document called for several recommendations.

"Each of Chicago's six counties must monitor the criminal justice system and create remedies for disproportionate mistreatment of minority populations.

"Overt and deliberate profiling of minorities, whether in a car, on the corner or in a court of law is an offense to our Constitution.

"It must be acknowledged and ended," he stated. "Training programs to develop skills to intelligently deal with race must be implemented throughout the system."