By Haas Institute News | January 22, 2015
One month after Berkeley police used tear gas and batons during a December protest, the City Council held a town hall meeting on police-community relations on Jan. 17.
According to the only news website Berkeleyside:
More than 200 people gathered in the atrium of the Ed Roberts campus for a five-hour town hall meeting, some holding up signs with “Black Lives Matter,” and “Stop racial profiling! BPD come clean.” While some of the public testimony concerned police actions Dec. 6, the first night of a weeklong series of demonstrations in Berkeley, much of the talk touched on the broader societal ills that have affected African-Americans.
From a panel of experts that included professors from UC Berkeley to Sheila Quintana, the principal of Berkeley Technical Academy, to a host of politicians including Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, to long-time residents of Berkeley, those in attendance focused on issues of race, jobs, affordable housing, and equitable education as pressing issues that must be addressed immediately.
“Police brutality and the killing of black bodies is horrific, however it is only a part of the problem that affects the relationship between the police and the black community,” Barbara White, a member of the Berkeley chapter of the NAACP testified in front of the council. “Structural and institutionalized racism and white privilege is at the root of the dehumanization of black people.”
Haas Institute Director and UC Berkeley professor john a. powell also spoke.
“Everything we’re talking about comes down to one thing: who belongs?” said Haas Institute Director john powell. He said elected officials must take responsibility to ensure everyone is treated justly and included. “We cannot have a just and inclusive society without a strong, responsive government” john powell said. Effective government is key.
powell added, “If government didn’t matter, elites wouldn’t spend time trying to gain control of it.”
Earlier this week, over 50 people attended the Berkeley City Council meeting to complain about police during the Berkåeley protests, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Read more about Saturday’s forum on Berkeleyside.
