Thursday, February 26, 2015

University of Minnesota's Answer to Racism

KMSP-TV

13 comments:

  1. Obviously the racial/ethnic information can only be responsibly evaluated by professional law enforcement. I wonder if gender will be next.
    All I can say is Holy. Cow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here is another source on this story. All I can say is that the U of M is the flower of liberal thought in a very liberal state and I hope this doesn't become a trend. The concept of these warnings is to inform, and at the U though, they are going to be careful not to be "too informative".

    "In a letter Wednesday to faculty, staff and students, Kaler said he has been persuaded that suspect descriptions "may unintentionally reinforce racist stereotypes of black men and other people of color as criminals and threats."

    Officials now plan to provide no description of a suspect unless "there is sufficient detail that would help identify a specific individual or group."

    A review of 51 crime alerts since 2012 found that suspect descriptions in 15 cases would not have met the new criteria.

    Pamela Wheelock, vice president for university services, said she and the campus police chief will decide case by case whether to give a description of the suspect, including race, gender and other identifiers, such as clothing or tattoos.

    "There's no recipe," she said."



    "It's not useful to report the race or the appearance of any suspect in a crime alert," he said. "The only ones who need that information is the police."

    Others said any detail the U can provide about criminal suspects can only help.

    "If that's all they have, I think that's fine," said Abenezer Atlaw, a first-year physics student from Hopkins who was born in Ethiopia. "I don't really see any discrimination intent."

    Yulia Allar, a Ukrainian-born kinesiology senior from Minneapolis, follows the crime alerts closely and shares the information with friends. She said she sees no harm in the use of racial descriptions.

    "It's the same as saying it's a tall person or a short person," she said. "That's the information, just like they're wearing a red or black jacket."

    Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the U's journalism school, said the new practice is similar to the judgment news organizations make when deciding whether to publicize a suspect's description.

    And while she understands the concerns about race and discrimination, she said, she doesn't think the U's public safety officials should make that call.

    "I'm in favor of more information rather than less information," Kirtley said. "They are not a news organization. They are the public safety and security office of a university."



    http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27595560/umn-stop-using-racial-descriptions-campus-crime-alerts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is political correctness gone awry.

      Delete
    2. This is political correctness gone awry.

      Sounds to me a lot more like "progressivism" being followed just as directed by the playbook.

      Delete
    3. Next they will delete gender because it is sexist to include it...

      Delete
    4. Political correctness gone awry? Yes.

      But this is the natural result when people like you constantly charge racism where there is nothing but political or philosophical disagreement. You render the word devoid of any real meaning and turn it into a club to be used by interest groups to seek out whatever end they want, including insanity like this.

      Delete
    5. Hahahaha. It's the fault of people like me even though I posted this to point out the ridiculousness of it.

      Delete
    6. Well mike you certainly cry wolf in regards to racism quite often on this blog and you love to lump gun owners into your made up categories as well as make false and libelous accusations against people so you'll have to forgive SJ if he lumped you into the wrong group

      Delete
    7. Mike,

      Just because you can see that this is insane doesn't mean that your type of false charges of racism haven't paved the way for the next generation to go even further in making false charges.

      My great uncle was one of the marchers at Selma. He would have been ashamed of the way you disrespect their work by using false accusations of racism as a weapon.

      Delete
    8. George and SJ, I don't cry wolf and I certainly don't make false charges. Sometimes I see racism as playing a part where you guys don't, that's not either of those things. I insist that racism is far more prevalent than you guys are willing to admit.

      Delete
  3. Suspect is described as "a bipedal mammal"...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. specism at its worst!!! You should be ashamed!

      Delete