San Jose: POLICE, JOBS, BANKS, CENSUS: IS THE MAYOR DOING ENOUGH?

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POLICE, JOBS, BANKS, CENSUS: IS THE MAYOR DOING ENOUGH?

Thursday, 09 April 2009

The Mayor of San Jose, answers questions about the San Jose Police Department. Photo by Franklin Andrade By Patty Lopez The SJPD has had its difficulties staying out of the spotlight. A glare caused by the disproportionate amount of Latinos and Blacks being arrested for public intoxication has many going head to head over this issue. Some people recently stood up to speak out at a public forum and ironically used blatantly offensive and racist stereotypes in an attempt to defend the San Jose Police Department. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed addressed the issue to the local Latino press on April 3rd, where instead of flat out denying that the arrests have any correlation with race, ethnicity, or skin color he conceded, "We have problems we have to deal with." Taking a proactive step forward he repeated a question he's already asked many people, "How do we know racial profiling is NOT happening?" The question, not posed often enough, has helped Reed gain some momentum with the chief of police, local leaders and community members resulting in a three-tier effort to tackle this epidemic head on. Reed said, "The chief has implemented some changes, and some supervision rules have changed. A public intoxication task force has been initiated." The city has also enlisted the help of an outside organization the Consortium for Police in Leadership in Equity (CPLE) to research the issue, which Reed says, "could take months." The Mayor's office is also working in conjunction with La Raza Roundtable to design a summit that will focus on this issue. Reed also took this opportunity with the Latino Media to get the word out about some valuable resources that are or will be available to the residents of San Jose. Such as Bank On San Jose, Summer jobs for youth and the U.S. Census. In an effort to promote financial literacy among non-English speaking communities Bank on San Jose aims to help people towards financial freedom by providing the necessary tools and education. Partnering with the United Way Silicon Valley, Bank of America, Bank of the West, and Citibank, among others, Jim Dale a program manager for Bank on San Jose says, "We can help people with no prior bank experience, or those who have had bad banking experiences, as well as people who only have an ITN number or a matricula card to open a checking account." The Mayor also announced some good news for the youth! 5 million in federal stimulus dollars will be used for the creation of summer jobs saying, "The safe summer initiative brought down juvenile crime rates. We may create jobs to promote the green initiative and get real value out of their work." Starting this month census workers are address canvassing neighborhoods. Although Reed will not let up on his resistance to make San Jose a "sanctuary city" his office affirms that census workers have no affiliation with ICE or INS and reiterate the importance of providing accurate information because federal funds are awarded to cities based on census data. For census questions or concerns call (408) 343-8140.

 

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Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

Sacramento, California, Aztlan
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