CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS DENOUNCE STATE RESPONSE ON PROFILING

Saying that Minnesota politicians have been more sensitive to the concerns
of a few police officers than to the rights of hundreds of thousands of
minority citizens, black leaders threatened court action and electoral
retribution Thursday if the state doesn't take strong action against racial
profiling.

The leaders of five civil rights groups lambasted Gov. Jesse Ventura as
well as DFLers and Republicans in the Legislature for what they said were
do-nothing responses to the alleged police practice of stopping motorists
because of their skin color.

"People of color spend $6 billion annually in Minnesota and pay over $500
million in taxes, yet we are treated as second-class citizens when it comes
to illegal stops and searches," Bill English of the African-American
Leadership Council said at a St. Paul news conference. "It is time to end
this unjust and ungodly practice; it will never happen without government
intervention."

Black and other minority leaders have called for a mandatory statewide
study of racial profiling on the grounds that requiring officers to record
the race of drivers and other data about traffic stops is the only way to
change discriminatory practices.

A state Department of Public Safety task force endorsed that approach, but
Ventura and every major statewide police group have opposed it. Since then,
committees in both legislative chambers have voted down a mandatory study,
although a Senate committee revived the measure last week.

In the House, a bill sponsored by Rep. Rich Stanek, R-Maple Grove, a
Minneapolis police inspector, would require training and policies to combat
profiling but not a study.

St. Paul NAACP president Nathaniel Khaliq said Thursday that Stanek didn't
consult minority leaders on his bill. Khaliq also denounced a GOP plan to
require officers to give stopped drivers a toll-free phone number to make
complaints.

"That's absolutely worthless," Khaliq said. "You call an 800 number, then
what happens? Nothing."

The group also scolded two DFLers, St. Paul Sen. Randy Kelly and
Minneapolis Rep. Wes Skoglund, for opposing a mandatory study, and unnamed
DFL Senate leaders for remaining silent on the issue.

Kelly's vote "is a strong signal our community will remember" in his run
for the St. Paul mayor's office, English said. He added: "African-Americans
have been overwhelmingly loyal to the DFL Party. Where is that loyalty
rewarded. ... ?"

English said a class-action lawsuit may be the only way to end racial
disparity in criminal justice. Such a suit would seek an end to racial
profiling and seek damage awards for harassment victims, he said.