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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums‘U’ Students Want Crime Alerts To Avoid Using Racial Descriptions
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/01/29/u-students-want-crime-alerts-to-avoid-using-racial-descriptions/"MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) School officials at the University of Minnesota are working with black student and facility organizations after they wrote a letter to the schools president about the racial descriptions given in crime alerts.
The letter, sent on Dec. 6, 2013, was issued by members of the African American and African Studies, Black Faculty and Staff Association, Black Graduate and Professional Student Association, Black Mens Forum, Black Student Union and Huntley House for African American Males.
It was directed to University President Eric Kaler and Pamela Wheelock, the vice president of University Services.
Students and staff mailed the letter more than a month after the campus went on lockdown because of an attempted robbery at Anderson Hall on Nov. 11, 2013. University of Minnesota Police wrongfully identified a student as the suspect."
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‘U’ Students Want Crime Alerts To Avoid Using Racial Descriptions (Original Post)
joeglow3
Jan 2014
OP
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)1. the intent has merit; the practicality has limits
Police say the suspect is a stocky powerfully built male in his 40s 5'10"-6' tall with close cropped hair and broad flattish features. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Do we worry about Matt Damon or Mike Tyson look-alikes? Or me come to think of it, who looks like neither.
msongs
(67,433 posts)2. Wanted: suspect we are not allowed to describe. If seen, well, you won't know him so never mind nt
Throd
(7,208 posts)3. That would defeat the purpose of a crime alert.
If there is an active predator in a community, the public deserves as accurate a description as possible.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)4. The could use "dark-skinned" to make clear that it is appearance and not a racial reference
"dark-skinned" would include Australian Aborigines, Melanesians, and Indian Tribals, for example.