-DRs Evans
We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our employee Pam Henderson. She was a great asset to our company and she will greatly be missed.
-DRs Evans
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Our son Jabari (aka Naledge) has been doing some consulting and research for Evans and Evans helping us develop new business strategies and billing procedures. Additionally, he is a social work graduate student at the University of Southern California. Here's a recent interview he did with Ebony Magazine on the reasons why he's decided to enter the wonderful field of mental health. Link: http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/mc-brains-kidz-in-the-hall-rapper-naledge-uses-hip-hop-to-inspire-chicagos-youth The ERPA Editorial Submission
Uncommon Naledge: Chicago, Racial Profiling and the Racial Profiling Act of 2011 By Jabari “Naledge” Evans Dear Chicago Police Department, I believe that racial profiling by many of your officers is a matter of law and policy that is inherently unfair. It places large burdens on many innocent people who share racial characteristics and many times hail from the most vulnerable populations. This practice is both inefficient and unfair to people of color and terrible reflection of the society we live in, serving as just another reminder of the corrupted foundation this country was founded on. As an African American male from the area of South Shore, my childhood was haunted with numerous experiences with law enforcement and many of those were unwarranted and seemingly excessive, to say the least. Still, most of my friends and I interpreted the practice of local officers pulling us over to search us and ask questions as commonplace and normal practice for good police work. As an adult, I can now say that I know the personal humiliation associated with racial profiling and the mental and physical harm that can be suffered by a law- abiding citizen due to this largely ineffective practice. Historically, there have generally been 22 census tract neighborhoods in Chicago that are ninety percent (90%) African American or above, and in those neighborhoods researchers have found that the crime rate in those zip codes routinely rank amongst the worst in our city (Street, 2005). While I firmly believe that the CPD are justified in supplying more manpower to these neighborhoods to serve and protect the interests of law abiding citizens, I also feel that officers who work in these areas and beyond have been erroneously trained to believe that criminals have a racial profile. When officers choose to implement this as an ideology and a normal practice, it leads to far more injustices than necessary and it sends the message to the African American community that the police do not properly protect and serve their human rights. Though “Driving While Black” (the racial profiling of black drivers) and Muslim discrimination have become popular causes amongst policy advocates, it is important to note that Latino drivers and Latino youth have also been regular recipients of racial profiling by law enforcement in our city. The Chicago Reporter examined the transportation department's data, which compiled records collected from law enforcement agencies throughout the state; finding that 44 out of more than 200 communities in the six-county Chicago area recorded a disparity of at least 10 percentage points when the share of Latino drivers stopped is compared to their size in the driving-age population (Diaz, 2009). (The analysis does not include communities that, according to the 2000 Census, had fewer than 2,500 residents, nor does it include those that recorded less than 200 traffic stops involving Latino drivers or 1,000 overall stops.) Additionally, although this author is a Christian himself, it horrifies me to see the amount of religious profiling that has occurred in this country post “9/11” (terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001). As wrong as it is to label and stereotype African Americans as thugs and drug dealers, it is equally wrong to view anyone in Muslim garb or practicing Islamic faith as a terrorist. I travel constantly due to my business schedule, and I can’t even count on my hands and toes the amount of times I have seen someone that is in Muslim or in traditional garb getting additional screening at security checkpoints at the airport. Experiences like that not only traumatize innocent people, but they often leave them with a sense of hopelessness and feeling that they may as well act out society’s negative perception of them. The End Racial Profiling Act of 2011 (ERPA) is one of the only proposed pieces of federal legislation that has ever dealt with these simple and fair human rights on a national level. By supporting the outwardly ERPA, CPD Head Gerry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel could take a huge leap in restoring the faith of citizens, like me who nearly see trusting racial fairness in law enforcement in America as a lost cause. Hopefully, someone sees the light on this matter as this issue has been held in the dark for far too long. |
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February 2016
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