It is a hot topic on a local and national scale: race, violence, and crime.
It was all discussed at the Bethlehem Public Library during a panel discussion on Wednesday night.
The panelists at a discussion called "Race, Crime, and Justice" included Bethlehem Police Chief Mark DiLuzio, Northampton Community College Professor Vertel Martin, and Director of Africana Studies at Lehigh University, Dr. James Peterson.
Each panelist offered a perspective on the recent killings of unarmed black men by law enforcement officials in Ferguson, Staten Island, and most recently, Cleveland.
"The problem is that we train our officers to be more militaristic than community oriented," said Martin.
"Obviously we have a problem with these state sanctioned murders, usually of people of color," said DiLuzio.
"Now we have one or two incidents where elements of society want to promote this as a constant across the country and that is totally inconsistent with what law enforcement does in this country every day," said DiLuzio.
The three panelists did discuss and agree that more minority representation on police forces across the country could help, but admit it's an uphill battle.
"What are young people in Cleveland thinking about law enforcement, what about in Ferguson, they aren't thinking positive things," said Peterson.
While the panelists say they might not have definite answers when it comes to these big questions, they say this type of discussion is a step in the right direction.
from 69News:Home http://ift.tt/1E1syfm
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire