Emotional testimony and rehashed complaints about police brutality and insensitivity filled Chicago City Council chambers for nearly four hours Tuesday, during a hearing of the police and fire committee on the subject of racial profiling.
Of the seven aldermen who attended Tuesday's City Council police and fire committee hearing on racial profiling, only three were Black, and one of those was the committee chair.
The African American community was not especially well-rep-resented either at the hearing which was convened by Alderman Isaac Carothers (29th).
Black Aldermen Emma Mitts (37th) and Carrie Austin (34th) were joined by Aldermen James Balcer (11th), Virginia Rugai (19th), Helen Shiller (46th) and Ariel Rebroyas (30th).
The committee listened to testimony from 21 city residents, all Black, as well as remarks from Chicago police superintendent Philip Cline.
Cline, accompanied by First Deputy Superintendent Dana Starks and other members of his command staff, said in prepared remarks that two events happened this summer to send the issue of racial profiling back into the news.
"In June, we released race data collected during traffic stops as part of the Illinois Traffic Stop Statistical Study," Cline said. "And last month, pastor and state Senator James Meeks filed a complaint with the Office of Professional Standards alleging that a sergeant mistreated him during a traffic stop."
Cline then made a power point presentation to show some of the training videos from around the country officers view in order to learn the best ways to deal with the public, and in ways that protect the safety of everyone involved in those vehicular stops.
He said the department received 421 officer complaints so far this year.
"They have been investigated and of that number, only six officers have been named in a second complaint," Cline said.
Then the testimony alleging physical and verbal police abuse began.
Marvin Robinson, a 13-year Cook County employee, told the committee he was with a group of friends at 79th Street and Langley Avenue on July 30 when police stopped them and arrested him for "wearing a T-shirt."
He is out on bond for trespassing charges and showed the Chicago Defender the offending shirt which read, "Fact: Whites get 1 year probation for 1 oz. of coke + Fact: Blacks get 6-30 years on ? oz. of coke."
The back side read, "Doesn't add up."
Clifton Marvel, a former investigator with the Cook County Sheriff's Department, fought back tears as he recounted how he was approached by police officers five years ago while he was in uniform and legally parked.
"No one explained why I was asked for my identification," he said.
Marvel's car was searched, his service weapon confiscated and the last thing he said he remembered about the incident was seeing "a white shirt (of a police supervisor) while I was choked unconscious."
He was fired from his job a month later and is still fighting charges of aggravated assault.
Rev. Albert Tyson III, pastor of St. Stephen's African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the only clergy member at the hearing, told the Defender he would like to see four things come out of the hearing.
"An independent citizen review board, a new standard of conduct for police officers, more promotions of African Americans," he said. "And zero tolerance for racial profiling."
State Senators Kwame Raoul (D-13th) and Kimberly Lightford (D-4th) also testified at the hearing.
Raoul talked about his personal experience when he was an assistant Cook County state's attorney and was stopped by police who believed he matched the description of a car thief.
Lightford said one of her young male relatives had been stopped by police in May, and was still awaiting a call back from OPS.
Pat Hill, head of the African American Police League, told the Defender the hearing was one of the least attended by the Black community she's seen.
"I think this is part because historically, there have never been any results produced, any recommendations, any results because the public sees this for what it is," said Hill. "It's a sham. It's just giving people something to do today."
She said the aldermen were "insulting the public by not being here. And I think every last one of them should be targeted."
But Carothers told the Defender while he had hoped for a greater response from the community, he will move forward in analyzing Tuesday's testimony and working with Cline, whom he believes is sincere in his effort to make officers accountable for their interactions with residents.
Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.
Photograph (Clifton Marvel, Isaac Carothers)
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