It's springtime at Brown, and you know what that means. It's time for another spring controversy that brings up race and class issues at Brown. In 2001, it was the David Horowitz brouhaha. In 2002, it was a racial profiling incident in which officers harassed and arrested a Brown student because he "looked like a Hope High School student." And now, in 2004, we have the alleged hate crimes perpetuated against Isaac Rodriguez '04 and Joel Madrid '05, which were followed by insensitive police and administrative responses to the incident.
I am friends with Rodriguez and Madrid, so, of course, I believe them when they tell me what happened that night. Since most readers do not have this relationship with them, I understand that people will want to withhold judgment about the facts of the alleged hate crime. What should not be under dispute, however, is that the police response to the incident was deplorable.
It is clear that the DPS officer treated Rodriguez like a criminal, grabbing and throwing him because of his race. The police report filed by this officer spells this out taking time to note that Rodriguez "did not look like a Brown student." It should be obvious by now that DPS clichés such as "he/she looks like a Hope High School student" or "he/she doesn't look like a Brown student" are code phrases for racial (and class) profiling. What, pray tell, should a typical "Brown student" look like? One would think that with all of the "sensitivity training" the Brown police receive that they would realize that Brown is so diverse that no one can say what a "Brown student" looks like. Or maybe Brown is not that diverse after all and because the student body is so homogenous, one can actually say what a "Brown student" should look like!
In addition to the racially motivated police misconduct, DPS also prevented Rodriguez from filing criminal charges against those he says attacked him (which is his civil right). That some of the alleged attackers are reportedly well connected with influential parents adds a particular odiousness to DPS's stonewalling.
On April 13, Action for Safety, a coalition formed in response to the incidents, organized a high-profile display on the Main Green which entailed a table manned by people handing out flyers, a banner hanging from Faunce House and several chalkings with the words "we are not safe here" on the Main Green. In addition, Madrid and Madeline Dwertman '05 published an opinion column in The Herald ("We're not safe here," April 13) to express their grievances and to expose the issue. The same day the column was published, members of the coalition walked out of a meeting called by President Ruth Simmons.
Publicly, Action for Safety has received nothing but criticism. Almost every letter to the editor and editorial in The Herald has been negative. In response to Action for Safety's demonstration, there were a few Pollyannaish letters to The Herald suggesting that Brown was not a hostile campus (because, after all, Alabama and North Carolina are the standard), that this year's two (reported) hate crimes were once-in-a-blue-moon incidents and that DPS has no problems with racism.
Then, The Herald criticized Action for Safety for walking out of the meeting called by Simmons, claiming that Action for Safety missed an important chance to converse with the administration ("Missed opportunity," April 27). I do not know if these views are representative of the Brown community, but they nonetheless merit a response.
While The Herald's sympathy with Action for Safety's message is laudable, it did not seriously engage the coalition's reasons for the walkout. As someone who sat through that two-hour meeting, the logic of the walkout became crystal clear. At the meeting numerous students repeatedly asked administrators about when their proposals - particularly the proposal about the civilian review board for the police - would be put into effect. Others asked for timelines or deadlines for the proposals. Their constant response? "We're working on it."
Apparently, Action for Safety's main argument is that concerns about policing are not being prioritized by the University. If this were the only public accusation of racism by DPS ever, perhaps I would understand concerns about Action for Safety's "alarmism." But it is not. The racism of the police seems to be so problematic that now it has poisoned their response to a hate crime. The situation is critical, and the University has to do better than "we're working on it."
Needless to say, Brian Rainey '04 does not feel safe here.
