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The Campaign to End Racial Profiling has been consistently pushing forward since we launched earlier this summer. Since the beginning of this campaign, ACLU of West Virginia and a coalition of allied organizations have managed a series of "Know Your Rights" public education seminars around the state. Our summer intern, Matthew Bova, was published a few times in the Charleston Gazette on issues related to race and American society. As a rallying point for the beginning of the campaign, a decision was made to host a high profile symposium on community and law enforcement relations. We knew from the outset that our approach had to be one that not only invited, but encouraged law enforcement to engage and participate. To a certain degree, racial profiling has to be remedied from within the government structure, and if you don't engage law enforcement correctly, they are much less likely to cooperate. Then, the status quo reigns, and everybody loses. The panelists for our symposium which was held last month at West Virginia State University included Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster, Stephen Haas from the Division of Criminal Justice Services, Meshea Poore from the Kanawha County Public Defenders office, and Kenneth Hale from NAACP of WV. The event was moderated by Charleston Gazette editor Jim Haught and I assure you, there was very little glossing over the subject at hand. The questions and the candor were civil but did not shy away from the reality of racial profiling in West Virgina. So many people attended that several had to stand throughout the evening. I mark the event as a great success, and recent events confirm as much. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Charleston Police Department would incorporate training tailored specifically to racial profiling for all police officers in the City. Some will say that law enforcement is just going through the motions to make it look like they are doing something, but we see something more significant. In all honesty, Charleston's recent move should be treated as a first step in dealing with the problem. Much more needs to be done. However, what makes the City's actions in this matter so pertinent isn't just the action being taken. It is also because the action taken comes as a response to a community based campaign that is politely, but firmly demanding action to remedy racial profiling by law enforcement. None of us are naive enough to think the political leadership in Charleston just decided to do this on a whim. I think everyone involved can ascertain that the organized and responsible community based campaign that has been at work for the last several months (and to some extent, the last seven years) has as much to do with this decision than anything else. This is one of the best ways to move government away from unconstitutional policies like racial profiling. By building coalitions, engaging communities, and keeping the finger-pointing to a minimum, we are able to create an environment where public officials and their agencies have to join the conversation and accept input on how to make things better. To reinforce, these are first steps and should be treated as such. But I will take positive increments of progress over no progress at all any day of the week.
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