Co-Written By Mr James Carr
When members of its own police department leveled charges of racist law
enforcement practices last November, the City of Highland Park, Illinois, found
itself in the spotlight of a national debate about racial profiling. The charges
sensationalized a complaint of unfair labor practices pending in the United
States District Court in Chicago. Soon, community activists, the local news
media and members of the United States House of Representatives meeting at a
specifically called congressional hearing were citing Highland Park, an affluent
and predominantly white suburban community, as the poster child for racial
profiling.
Confronting the Issue of Racial Profiling
