Saturday, August 25, 2012

Peace Meals August 2012


Peace Meals

 
A Newsletter for dreamers, activists, hippies, and all people who hunger for Peace
 

Volume I Issue 3 August 2012
 



What is Peace Meals?


I imagine a newsletter that reports on activities, ideas, initiatives, events of all people in our community who are working for peace broadly defined. Whether you are supporting families, empowering women, ending racism, providing mental health, reducing the prevalence of guns and violence in our culture, assisting ex-offenders reenter our society, providing programs to trouble youth, reducing poverty, reforming the criminal justice system, welcoming immigrants into our community, or standing on the corner with a sign against war – you are working for peace. My dream is that you will email me on the third Sunday of each month with your article, announcement, or peace serving. I will compile all announcements into one big peace potluck for us all to share.


Announcements

Supporting Families

Center for Child and Family Health

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 from 11:30AM until 2:00 PM

The Annual Center for Child and Family Health Urbaniak/Sanders Luncheon & Fashion Show, Hope Valley Country Club, 3803 Dover Road, Durham, NC 27701.  For more information, to sponsor, or to join the event committee, contact C. Eileen Watts Welch:  at 919-419-3474 ext 262 or eileen.welch@duke.edu

The Center for Child & Family Health (CCFH) offers preventative, diagnostic and treatment services for children and families affected by or at risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. We host a variety of major research projects to better understand child development, chronic stress, traumatic stress, and bereavement. CCFH has earned the respect of the local and regional community, and is a model that can be used on a national level to change the way we support children and families in overcoming the effects of social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

Gun Control

The pro-gun control Brady Campaign is out with a new letter, asking presidential debate moderator Jim Lehrer to press both President Obama and Mitt Romney on gun control.

"As moderator of the first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado, I respectfully request that you ask President Obama and Governor Romney to present their plans to address the issue of gun violence in our nation," the Brady Campaign writes.

"The debate will take place within 10 miles of two of the most deadly mass shootings in U.S. history: Columbine High School and the Aurora movie theater. Every day in our nation 32 more Americans are murdered with guns. During the next presidential term, 48,000 more Americans will be murdered unless we do something about it," they argue.

Lehrer is set to moderate the Denver debate — just a few miles from the recent shooting in Aurora, Colo that left a dozen dead.

Stop Racism

The NAACP of North Carolina held a Community Mass Meeting on Friday August 24, 2012 in Durham which included a press conference and the announcement of the statewide grassroots mobilization for voter registration taking place over the weekend. In neighborhoods, churches, parks, libraries and other public spaces, NAACP branches and their partners will go to where the people are to register as many as possible to vote.

Speakers included Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, North Carolina NAACP President and Chair of the Political Action Committee of the NAACP National Board of Directors, Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, former Chair of the Religious Affairs Committee of the NAACP National Board of Directors and Pastor of the 3rd Baptist Church, San Francisco, CA, along with other state, national and youth representatives.

Mental Health

Lincoln Community Health Center operates a Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic on the campus of the Urban Ministries Shelter in downtown Durham.  Medical and social work services are provided to Durham residents who are living in Durham’s shelters, recovery houses, or to those living on the streets or in their cars.

Lincoln's HCH clinic provides comprehensive primary care services and urgent care services. Services are provided weekdays by a family nurse practitioner and during evening clinics (3-4 times a week) by a physician assistant or volunteer community physicians. A clinical social worker is available during most of the clinics for counseling and case management services and for a weekly coping skills group

Reform the Justice System

Frank Stasio, radio host for the State of Things with WUNC, 91.5 presented a program on Friday, August 24, 2012 about Restorative Justice. Our justice system is sometimes referred to as “retributive justice,” meaning when someone commits a crime, the response is to punish them. Now imagine a system where the focus is on healing, rather than punishment, one that allows the victim of a crime to experience a legal process that is interactive and engaging. That is the mission of restorative justice. Host Frank Stasio spoke with Fred Van Liew, director for the Center of Restorative Justice Practices and a former prosecutor based in Des Moines, Iowa; Marcia Owen, the executive director of Religious Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham; and Karen Hamilton, senior director of Counseling and Student Services in Wake County Schools.
 
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/Restorative_Justice.mp3/view

 
Re-Entry of Ex-Offenders

 The Religious Coalition for Non-Violent Durham puts together faith teams to support people coming back to our community from prison.

 A Faith Team is a group of 4-6 volunteers who provide practical, emotional and spiritual support to a person newly-released from prison. Faith Team members are required to attend a training to participate in the Reconciliation and Re-entry Ministry. The training will explain the Ministry’s principles, procedures and team approach to care. Once a faith team is formed, the training will establish the key relationships between the offender, faith team members, Criminal Justice Resource Center staff and Reconciliation and Re-entry coordinator. Your congregation will also be asked to evaluate its interest in restorative justice and to assess your congregations’ current strengths and resources before forming a Faith Team. The partners will enter into an agreement that specifies what they are each to do, where they can get help, the length of the covenant, the process of mediating differences, and the expectations of the partners.

Training is conducted by the Reconciliation and Re-entry Coordinator and a professional from the Criminal Justice Resource Center. The Criminal Justice Resource Center is a Department of Durham County Government and is under the advisement of the Criminal Justice Partnership Advisory Board.

Ending Poverty

Established in 1992, Housing for New Hope is a nonprofit organization serving the needs of homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness in Durham and Orange Counties.

Housing for New Hope is supported by more than 750 individuals, 22 congregations, more than 20 businesses and civic organizations, six foundations, and federal, state, and local government agencies.

The mission of Housing for New Hope is to encourage and assist homeless people and other persons in crisis to move toward lives marked by increased levels of stability, dignity, hope, and independence.

Services include

·         Outreach and Engagement: Unsheltered and uninsured homeless men and women in Durham and Orange Counties are served daily by workers on foot and by vehicle. Ongoing case management and connections to healthcare and other necessary services are provided.
·         Housing and Crisis Assistance: More than $200,000 is provided annually for rental and other financial assistance to the precariously housed and formerly homeless. Staff assist the homeless to obtain and maintain housing and work closely with private landlords through the process.
·         Transitional Housing: The year-long program assists homeless men and women to regain structure in their lives, which can include gaining employment, developing savings, maintaining sobriety, and accessing educational opportunities.
·         Apartments: Sixty-four formerly homeless tenants live in affordable housing developed by Housing for New Hope since 1997. On-site staff provide support services to prevent a return to homelessness

Youth Programs

YO: Durham grants teens a "year of opportunity" by providing benefits including individual adult mentoring from community members, service learning opportunities like working in soup kitchens, a six-week paid summer career academy to teach career oriented skills and internships with area businesses and organizations. http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2012/02/01/210937/helping-the-citys-youth.html

Cultures of Peace

American Friends Service Committee at the Democratic National Convention presents:

WINDOWS AND MIRRORS:

REFLECTIONS ON THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

Windows & Mirrors is a provocative art exhibit on the human cost of war. Eighteen 4’ x 6’ murals were created by US and international artists to memorialize the civilian causalities in Afghanistan. These windows on a war-torn country are also mirrors reflecting our own identity as a nation at war.

Wells Fargo Gallery, Spirit Square

345 North College St, Charlotte, NC

Exhibit Hours:  September 2-8, 2012

Monday- Saturday 9am – 6pm

Sunday 1-5 pm

Love in Action: The Transformative Power of Nonviolence

November 8 - 11, 2012. Early bird registration ends September 10th. Scholarships are available for college and seminary students. The scholarship application deadline is October 1st.

The fifth annual Lake Junaluska Peace Conference, "Love in Action: the Transformative Power of Nonviolence," will draw upon the lessons of nonviolent campaigns and their leaders who discovered a force that can change the world. Participants will explore the principles and learn the applications of nonviolence as taught by Gandhi, King, and many spiritual leaders who offered this alternative paradigm for resolving conflict, achieving justice, and building peace.

EARLY REGISTRATION ENDS SEPTEMBER 10.

Workshops include:

·         Meditation for Peacemakers

·         How to Start a Revolution

·         Abundant Life and Unjust Prosperity: Violence and Non-Violence in the Marketplace

·         For the Healing of the Nations

·         Restorative Practices: Breaking Cycles of Violence and Retribution

·         Racial Healing and Equity: The Power of Sharing Stories and Facilitating Non-Violent Dialogue

·         Bringing the Peace Message to our Schools

·         Still Defending Creation: The Growing Threat of US Nuclear Weapons

·         Reclaiming Nonviolence in the Islamic Tradition

·         Manna and Mercy

·         Civilian Diplomacy

·         Compassionate Listening 

 Detailed workshop descriptions may be found at

http://www.lakejunaluska.com/peace-workshops/  

 NEW: On Friday, November 9, there will be a special panel discussing what Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism teach about nonviolence.

 Speakers include:

·         Leymah Gbowee, Liberian Peace Activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner. Gbowee helped carry the Olympic Flag during the London Olympics Opening Ceremony. 

·         Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr., Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Candler School of Theology and Civil Rights leader

·         Michael Nagler, President of the Metta Center for Nonviolence

·         Alan Storey, Central Methodist Mission in Cape Town, Africa  

 Participants will have a unique opportunity to become a part of an ongoing multi-faith community of peacemakers who practice nonviolent witness to societal and global transformation.  Through the addresses, panels, and workshops, the conference provides peacemaking skill building experience that will empower and sustain us individually and in community as we do the hard work of peacemaking in a world broken and corrupted by systemic violence.

 The conference will be held at Lake Junaluska, NC November 8 - 11, 2012. Early bird registration ends September 10th. Scholarships are available for college and seminary students. The scholarship application deadline is October 1st.

For more information visit us at www.lakejunaluska.com/peace

Immigration

Sept. 1-5, Charlotte, NC.  No Papers No Fear “Undocubus” coming to Charlotte for Democratic National Convention.

        Sat, Sept. 1 – Arrival of Bus. Details TBA

          Sun, Sept. 2 – No Papers No Fear Bloc during March on Wall Street South

                Mon, Sept. 3—Concert and intercambio (exchange) of artists and writers

                Tues-Fri, Sept 4-6—Public Coming Out

                Thurs, Sept. 5—UndocuNation Festival

For more information, please contact Roxana Bendezu: roxanabendezu@gmail.com, 704-264-4444

Sat, Sept. 15 10am-3pm, Greensboro, NC. Statewide Stakeholders Meeting for Adelante Education Coalition. Learn about educational issues affecting Latinos, upcoming plans, campaigns and how you can get involved. If you are interested in participating, contact Raul Gamez: raul.gamez@duke.edu.

Friday, October 12 8:30am-4pm, United Church of Chapel Hill. 2012 Faith & Immigration Statewide Summit, sponsored by the NC Council of Churches. This will be a unique, statewide, ecumenical event to help people of faith (immigrant and non) deal with immigration related issues in their own congregations and beyond, and become better advocates and allies. Workshop tracks will include: Immigration & Enforcement, Advocacy & Base Building, and Ministry With Immigrants.  $10 registration includes lunch. For more info and to register: http://bit.ly/immigration-summit.

Environment

Earth Sabbath Celebration

September 4, 2012 from 7:00-8:30 PM

Durham Friends Meeting
Sharing worship, personal stories, video clips and/or readings related to appreciation & concern about our Earth.  Sponsored by NC Interfaith Power & Light.  Hosted by Durham Friends Meeting Earthcare Witness.  Friends & the wider community are invited to participate.  Meetinghouse, worship room.

Protest Opportunities

Ongoing weekly vigils for justice and peace:
·         Raleigh - Stop the Arms Race and Build a Culture of Peace Vigil.  First Wednesday of every month from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in front of the Century Post Office on Fayetteville St.  Posters provided. Now in the 29th year.  .

·         Chapel Hill: 5-6pm, Fridays, corner of Elliott Rd and East Franklin St (942-2535).

·         Raleigh: 5:00-6:00 pm, Mondays, in front of Central Prison, corner of Hunt Dr. and Western Blvd, to end the death penalty (PFADP, AI-USA, NC-ACLU) 

 
Articles

By Scott Holmes

I have the opportunity to talk with Mayor Bill Bell about his idea to reduce gun violence by setting bonds in gun cases to $300,000. Last week we had two homicides in three days. Mayor Bell wants to send a clear message to perpetrators of violence that we are serious about ending violence.  I applaud Mayor Bell for keeping this issue on the forefront of our minds; but, I disagree with his approach.  This opportunity to talk about violence in Durham has required me to try to articulate some of the lessons I have learned about violence in Durham.

The Lessons of Violence

As a criminal defense attorney for more than ten years, I have appeared in about sixty murder cases. Most of them happened in Durham. I have met perpetrators, their families, victims, their families, police, and witnesses. I have immersed myself in each act of violence to understand why it happened, in order to help my client and in order to help our system search for justice. I have learned that our system works very hard to identify and punish the guilty, but it usually falls far short of finding justice, reconciliation, and healing for the victim, the perpetrator, and our community. As a Quaker and a Pacifist, I have continually asked the question why did this act of violence happen? What could have prevented it? How can we heal as a community moving forward?  These are the questions we should be asking about violence in Durham – not “how high should the bond be.”  I have learned that violence is a symptom of cascading social failures. By the time an act of violence occurs, there is a long series of social failures that have occurred, and locking up the perpetrator won’t prevent the next act of violence.

If you want to know how to prevent violence, talk to mothers of people charged with violent acts. They are suffering from the cascade of social failures. They will tell you that they saw it coming and they couldn’t find the help they needed for their children. You can talk to victims of domestic violence, who could have predicted the act days in advance, but they did not know how to get help.

Pieces of the Violence Puzzle

Reducing violence in Durham requires focused attention to many pieces of a complicated puzzle involving many different aspects of our community.  We need people in leadership positions to keep their eye on the big picture, and we need people on the streets working hard on each piece of the puzzle. Each needs to communicate well with the other to share information, ideas, solutions and failures. Here are 10 pieces of that puzzle that I have encountered in my work:

1.      Supporting Families and Women: Families with risk factors for violence need more help and support. These include folks living in poverty, single parents, where there are issues of mental illness and drug addiction. These also include people in verbally or physically abusive relationships. There are individual and family interventions that have been tested and proven to succeed in reducing violence by supporting these families by providing therapy, life training skills, conflict resolution skills, and stress reduction. We also need to empower women. Women are less likely to commit acts of violence, and are most often targets of violence. In Durham we ranked second last year (to Charlotte) for the number of domestic violence homicides. Women need to have the educational, emotional, financial, and community resources to escape abusive situations.

Jan Williams is the program director for Healthy Families Durham. This group provides support for families of young children. All of the families that they work with are low-income. Most moms are single parents who have multiple risk factors such as domestic violence, mental health issues, social isolation, and teenage parenting.  Jan helps provide weekly home visits for up to three years, providing parent education, case management, supportive counseling, and helping the parents to meet their personal goals.

Over the last seven years, Healthy Families Durham has been conducting a randomized controlled trial of Healthy Families Durham.  A preliminary analysis shows that the people they serve more likely to be connected with needed benefits, show significantly less stress, and their children show significantly fewer behavior problems. The children show significantly less indicators for aggression.

2.      Gun Control: One important piece of the violence puzzle is the reasonable regulation and reduction of guns on our streets.  Guns are more dangerous than cars, and should be regulated at least as much as cars. We should have to take a test to get a license to possess a gun. We should have to register the gun, and get insurance in case it hurts someone.  The handling of guns should have to be inspected annually for safety. People with mental illness should not be allowed to get a gun license. Certain guns, like assault rifles, should only be provided to soldiers.

3.      Stop Racism: Black residents in Durham are eight times more likely to be incarcerated for an offense than White offenders. Black residents are 200% more likely to be searched at a routine traffic stop than white motorists.  We must end law enforcement practices which unfairly target people of color for investigation because of the color of their skin. We must work toward a justice system that works for people regardless of their race. 

4.      Mental Health: People with mental illness need support in our community. Many cannot afford mental health treatment or do not know where to get it. Many need intensive drug addiction treatment and can’t find any. Our jail has become the place where we put people with mental illness. Many acts of violence involve untreated mental illness. Family members know these folks are suffering with untreated mental illness or addiction, and feel helpless about where to get help for their family members. We need to support efforts like the Durham Police Crisis Intervention Team – where officers with special training in mental health are able to de-escalate situations safely. This team, and its supporting agency, the Criminal Justice System are often on the chopping block of budgetary decisions.  All police should be trained in “Mental Health First Aid.”  We need to support of Durham Network of Care, the Lincoln Community Health Care Center, and the Durham Center Access and Freedom House which provide 24 hour free mental health treatment free of charge.

We are moving in the wrong direction when we cut Alliance Behavioral Healthcare (Formerly the Durham Center) which provides services in Durham for mental health and drug treatment. This organization has lost three million in federal and state funds for this year.  They served 11,000 people in Durham last year.  Many of the clients who are parents, appear in court and have to get evaluations. There are few places to take Medicaid, and it is difficult to get evaluations, counseling and treatment. This is an essential source mental health treatment in our community. We are cutting the kind of mental health and addiction treatment that could prevent senseless violence in our community. (Local Mental Health, Drug Services to be Cut, Durham Herald Sun, Keith Upchurch, August 12, 2012, http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/19749570/article-Local-mental-health--drug-services-to-be-cut )

5.      Reform the Justice System: The Court system does not address violence in a way that reduces violence. Incarceration does not reduce violence. We need to get 16 and 17 year old kids out of the Durham County Jail. Or, if we can’t release them, they need to have their own pod away from the adult offenders where their education is continued and they receive therapy and life skills training. We should promote efforts like the specialty courts in Durham – the Drug Treatment Court, the People’s Court, and the Domestic Violence Court.

We are moving in the wrong direction when we closed Family Drug Court due to budget cuts. This Court served moms whose kids were in DSS custody and who had pending juvenile court cases about their children.  This court took a holistic approach to the problems faced by these mothers, including their needs for housing, job training, transportation, in addition to drug treatment.

We should get Professor Powell from Campbell Law School to bring his mediation program from Raleigh to Durham County Schools. In Wake County he is teaching non-violent conflict resolution skills to students, and reducing suspension and court referral rates in the meantime. We should embrace restorative justice techniques that bring the victims into the process and make their healing an important focus of the system.

6.      Re-Entry of Ex-Offenders: Many acts of violence are perpetrated by people with previous criminal records. We need healthy ways to bring ex-offenders back into our community. With a criminal record these folks have difficulty getting housing and employment, which leads to more stress and increases the risk of violence. We should support efforts of the Criminal Justice Resource Center (CJRC) to help with the re-entry of ex-offenders back into our community. Folks like Gudrun Parmer with CJRC, and Marcia Owen of the Religious Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham are helping bring ex-offenders back within the circle of our community in ways that reduce repeat offenses, or recidivism. There are roles for citizens to play forming circles of support and accountability, and working with probation officers, to help ex-offenders successfully return to our community. Keeping ex-offenders at the margins of our society greatly increases the risk of recidivism and violence in our community.

7.      Concentrations of Poverty: Many violent acts occur in areas of concentrated poverty. We should look at efforts to invest in poor parts of Durham to help young people see a legitimate model of success. Young people in poor areas of Durham ought to see examples of peers who make good money without dealing drugs. We should support efforts of people like Peter Skillern with Reinvestment Partners and the Self Help Credit Union to invest in poor parts of Durham and create real economic opportunity. After decades of working in Durham, Mel Williams, of End Poverty Durham, believes that poverty is the single most important factor leading to violence.

8.      Youth Programs: We should support youth programs like ‘Yo Durham’ and others which help Youth find creative and fun ways to form healthy peer groups in situations where there is a risk of violence or gang affiliation. Churches should reach out to kids on the street, accept them for who they are, and love them. Youth at risk for violence should be able to find groups where they accepted, protected, and guided by folks who understand what they are going through.

9.      Changing the Culture of Violence: We live in a culture where violence is glorified. Try to count the number of violent acts in a three hour television segment. Our culture makes violence acceptable. We should support organizations like North Carolina Peace Action which offer a variety of ways for individuals, families, and community organizations to think carefully about the role of violence in our daily lives. We should teach our children that violence is an unacceptable and unhealthy life choice.

10.  Durham Crime Cabinet: We should empower the Durham Crime Cabinet to take a more active and public role in reducing violence in our Community. The goal of Durham’s Crime Cabinet is to bring all available resources to bear on reducing Durham’s crime. The committee offers coordination and communication among member agencies. The Crime Cabinet, co-chaired by Commissioner Ellen Reckhow and Councilman Howard Clement, meets every other month. Member organizations include the Durham Police Department, Durham County Sheriff’s Office, Probation and Parole, Partners Against Crime, Durham Technical Community College, Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, Durham Businesses against Crime, Criminal Justice Resource Center, Office of the Superior Court, and our District Court Judges.

This Cabinet should also include members of the community who are victims of violent crimes and families of perpetrators of violent crime. Much of the work of the Cabinet has focused on proposing more serious penalties for crimes. I recommend they take a more holistic approach to reducing violence and preventing crime.  They should keep an eye on the big picture of violence in Durham while supporting groups who are working on the individual pieces of that puzzle and filling in the gaps. When a violent act occurs, this group should investigate what happened from the point of view of figuring out where our social care system failed.   This group could identify the efforts that are working, the policies that are not working, and ways to fill the holes in our net of care. 

There is something called the Youth Promise Act in Congress now that would fund a commission of community members to come together, hire someone to research the situations and causes of violence in a city and work with the community members to design the best interventions.  It's been tried with great success in such places as New York City and Los Angeles.  We could apply for this grant to fund and expand the work of the Durham Crime Cabinet to address the issues raised here.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it addresses many of the issues that lead to violence. In 2008 the World Health Organization issued a report on youth violence as a public health problem. In that report there were 10 ways to reduce violence listed:

Ten Credible evidence based strategies for preventing violence

1.      Increase safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between children and their parents and caretakers;

2.      Reduce availability and misuse of drugs and alcohol;

3.       Reduce access to lethal means, such as guns, knives, and pesticides (often used to commit suicide, especially in low- and middle-income countries);
 
4.       Improve life skills and enhance opportunities for children and youth;

5.      Promote gender equality and empower women;

6.      Change cultural norms that support violence;

7.      Improve criminal justice systems;

8.      Improve social welfare systems;

9.      Reduce social distance between conflicting groups;

10.  Reduce economic inequality and concentrated poverty.

Source: WHO. (2008). Preventing violence (http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241596589_eng.pdf )

A report of the United States Surgeon General in 2001 suggested that incarceration is not the most effective way to reduce violence.

“In the 1990s, faced with the epidemic of violence and largely unaware that research had found some violence prevention programs to be effective -- as well as often buying into the "just desserts" philosophy -- the only option some legislators saw was to lock up violent youths to protect society. New evidence makes a compelling case that intervention programs can be cost-effective and can reduce the likelihood that youths will become repeat offenders. Given this evidence, it is in the country's interest to place as many violent youths as possible in these programs, thus correcting the imbalance that now favors use of the criminal justice system over effective intervention programs. Reclaiming youths from a violent lifestyle has clear advantages over warehousing them in prisons and training schools.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44299/#A13331 )

In Conclusion

I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss the important issue of violence in my community. I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions. The work to reduce violence is real peacemaking. Blessed are the Peacemakers. I believe we each begin making peace within ourselves. As the Dali Lama has said:  Peace must first be developed within an individual. And I believe that love, compassion, altruism are the fundamental basis for peace. Once these qualities are developed within an individual, he or she is then able to create an atmosphere of peace and harmony. The atmosphere can be expanded and extended from the individual to the family, from the family to the community, and eventually to the whole world.

 I will close with a list of local organizations that I have encountered who are doing incredible work on various pieces of the puzzle. I welcome any suggested additions to this list, and ideas about other pieces of the puzzle.

Contact
Website
Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham
Marcia Owen
Criminal Justice Resource Center and STARR program
Gudrun Parmer
Durham Center Access, Freedom House
Anita Daniels
Durham Police Department Crisis Intervention Team
Alanna J. Jones, CJRC
http://durhamnc.gov/ich/op/DPD/Pages/CIT.aspx
Durham Congregations in Action
Spencer Bradford
Conflict Resolution Center and In-School Truancy Court
Grace Marsh

 
Specialty Courts: Drug Treatment Court, People’s Court, Domestic Violence Court
Judge Marsha Morey
http://www.nccourts.org/County/Durham/Programs/Drug/Default.asp
Center for Child and Family Health, Healthy Families Durham
Jan Williams
http://www.ccfhnc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=89
East Durham Child Initiative
David Reese
http://edci.org/
Nativity School
Daniel Vannelle
End Poverty Durham
Mel Williams
Yo Durham

 
http://www.yodurham.org/
Reinvestment Partners
Peter Skillern
NC Peace Action
Betsy Crites
Urban Ministries and Lincoln Community Health Care Center
Julia Gamble
Housing for New Hope
Melissa Heartful
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Jennifer Snyder
Alliance Behavioral Healthcare (Formerly the Durham Center)

 
People of Faith Against the Death Penalty

 
ACLU – NC

 
Amnesty International USA

 
American Friends Service Committee

 
Friends Committee on National Legislation

 
NAACP of NC

 

 

End Racial Profiling in Durham Now

By Scott Holmes

 

For years I have represented young black male and Hispanic drivers who describe being stopped for no good reason, and searched without result. One of my clients was TASERed for refusing to extinguish his cigarette after he was stopped for what a judge later determined was no legitimate reason.  (http://www.unc.edu/~fbaum/papers/Trial_Briefs_Ian_Mance_2012.pdf ) These people feel like victims of a bully that they cannot stand up to. I have long fought racial profiling as a disease in our beloved community. People should not be treated like criminals, targeted for investigation, because of the color of their skin. It is humiliating.

Racial profiling has long been something that is discussed as a sporadic phenomenon, an isolated failure of our system caused by a rogue police officer or two. Until recently, the evidence of racial profiling has been largely supported only by anecdotal evidence.  Victims of racial profiling live in silence. They are stopped repeatedly for no reason on the way home, and don’t think people will believe them. No one likes to “play the race card.”

Now, however, thanks to statistics collected since January of 2000 as a result of NC’s data collection statute, and an analysis of more than 13 million stops, we know that racial profiling is a tragically real part of our system of law enforcement. In a report released to select policymakers this spring, UNC Professor Frank R. Baumgartner (and graduate assistant Derek Epp) analyzed this data for each of the Counties in North Carolina. (http://www.unc.edu/~fbaum/papers/Baumgartner-Traffic-Stops-Statistics-1-Feb-2012.pdf )  The statistics for Durham are startling:

Black motorists are more than 200% more likely to be searched by law enforcement as a result of a routine traffic stops for speeding, seat belt, and stop sign violations.

·         Black suspects are nearly nine times more likely to be incarcerated for criminal conduct than White suspects.

(Note: This statistic on racial incarceration in Durham comes from a study conducted by the Racial Justice Task Force at the North Carolina Advocates for justice, and not the Baumgartner report. The Task Force’s analysis of June 30, 2011, data, collected from the North Carolina Department of Correction’s Research and Planning Division, show that African Americans make up 57% of North Carolina’s prison population, but only 22% of the State’s population. In Durham County, African Americans are nearly nine times more likely to be incarcerated for criminal conduct than Caucasians, with Edgecombe and Warren Counties close behind with ratios of 7.5 to 1, and Mecklenburg with a ratio of 6.9 to 1.; )

·         Blacks arrested for drug crimes are nine times more likely to be incarcerated than White suspects.

·         Hispanics are 3.8 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug crimes than white residents.

·         Blacks are 13.6 times more likely to be designated as a habitual felon.

These statistics do not do justice to the humiliating reality of being treated as a criminal just because of your race. These statistics confirm that racial bias is deeply embedded in our criminal justice system in Durham.

If we are to be the beloved community, we must face the problem of race in our court system. We must meet this challenge head on with open, honest dialogue.  We must have conversations at every level of our community – at schools, businesses, universities, libraries, court rooms, police training sessions, in the jail. Our leaders owe it to us to address these statistics and make changes that will change the trend.  Some of these changes might include:

·         regularly posting the racial stop data for every Durham police officer;

·         requiring police to inform people of their right to refuse consent searches and to fill out a form consenting or declining a search incident to a stop; and

·         creating a Racial Truth and Reconciliation commission composed of leaders, professionals, citizens, and victims of racial profiling to review the data, create a complaint review process, to investigate and listen to people affected by racism in our criminal justice system.


We need our Durham Crime Cabinet to take a look at these statistics and recommend reforms for our law enforcement agencies and court system.

Although these statistics show that most officers engage in racial profiling, and that it is not just a few “bad apples,” I do not believe that most officers intentionally target people for investigation solely because of their race. I have encountered a few racist police officers; however, these are rare exceptions.  Most officers take great pride in being professional and treating people fairly; and yet, the odds are they disproportionately stop people of color.  How can this be?  We live in a culture of unconscious racism. Racism is built into the very fabric of our institutions and culture. It is in the air we breathe and we can’t even identify it, or talk about it in healthy and open ways.

We will need strong, courageous leadership to address this institutional and cultural racism. We will need to get past defensive reactions, denials, and inadequate explanations. If our leaders will not take up the mantle of ending racism in our criminal justice system, then we must find a way to address the inequality ourselves. Our justice system is supposed to provide equal protection of the law regardless of race, and we in Durham have failed to measure up to this founding constitutional principle.

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