Beverly Reaves says she was shopping for a home the first time she felt racially profiled. The ordeal of facing police with guns drawn left her shaken and distrustful of police. Researchers are looking at how police patrol black and minority communities and say in a recent study that there is a stronger focus on black communities especially when it comes to drug enforcement.

Roderick Harrison is a demographer at the joint center for political and economic studies and is a professor at Howard University.

Harrison says that very often minorities are easier targets because their offenses are done in public while their white counterparts have the money to hide illegal activity.

Read and watch more at Press TV.

Justin Flores of Asheville, N.C., no longer takes his wife to his family reunion. And many of his relatives don’t even talk to him anymore, even when they see each other in grocery stores.

Flores says this backlash is because he has taken a stand. The half Caucasian, half Latino 34-year-old is married to an African-American woman. And he has decided not to tolerate racially bigoted words - even when used in casual conversation.

This article was previously available at The Seattle Medium.

Across America, there are examples of towns and cities that have not only united but also created a movement to stand up against hate--like Billings, Montana; Springfield, Illinois; and Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Clarksburg, West Virginia, provides another unique story with lessons to be learned from its response to the Ku Klux Klan. Steps Toward an Inclusive Community is a case study of how Clarksburg, a moderately sized community in West Virginia, responded to a KKK rally by conducting a counter-rally, the Get Real Rally, which in turn led to the Clarksburg Unity Project.

This publication shares Clarksburg's response to hate in the context of the state's and community's history and the town's current state of race relations, an effort to which a local newspaper's editorial board responded,  "If we hope to prosper economically, Clarksburg must show the nation that its people are unified and that this is a great place to live because of it."

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Date Published: 2001

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Tug-of-wars over style and strategy have often strained the relationship between groups in the race relations and racial justice movement. Some have been labeled as too confrontational, while others have been accused of working too much within the power structure. Holding Up the Mirror: Working Interdependently for Just and Inclusive Communities, published by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, shows that mutual acceptance of seemingly competing tactics can make the movement stronger and more effective.

"There can never be a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to race relations because race problems appear in different ways and affect people differently," said Joint Center president, Eddie N. Williams. "In Holding Up the Mirror, race relations and racial justice groups from across a wide spectrum are acknowledging that strategic collaborations can help them all reach a wider, more diverse audience more effectively."

Written by Maggie Potapchuk, senior program associate with the Joint Center's Network of Alliances Bridging Race and Ethnicity (NABRE) program, Holding Up the Mirror provides greater insight into nine distinct approaches being used by local and national organizations across the country. It also recommends ways for creating collaborative strategies to address community issues.

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Date Published: March 2002

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How can online dialogue on controversial issues of race and ethnicity strengthen local coalitions and promote action to address a specific issue?

From Talk to Action is a booklet concerning racial profiling and how to make creative use of online dialogue to foster improved race relations and civic empowerment. The booklet has a dual purpose. First, it is intended as a guide to community leaders who wish to foster dialogue, bolster action and awareness, and create positive solutions in their communities to address racial profiling. Second, the booklet is intended as a summary of a unique effort to demonstrate how online communications can be used to foster civic empowerment. By linking people who otherwise might not come in contact with each other, the technology can help to break down barriers to communication and interaction and thus both debunk negative stereotypes that continue to plague us and generate cooperative efforts to bridge racial and ethnic divisions.

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Date Published: April 2002

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Throughout the country, grassroots organizations are at work in communities large and small promoting racial justice and improved race relations. While their broad aims are often the same, many of these groups differ in their philosophies and employ widely differing methodologies. Too often, these groups avoid collaboration, foregoing the advantages it would bring because they are unable to see beyond their particular perspectives. Cultivating Interdependence is a guide for changing that dynamic. It builds on the anti-racism and related concepts outlined in Holding Up the Mirror, its predecessor volume. The guide also incorporates practical insights gleaned from the many community groups that attended the Joint Center's four how-to forums (directed by the NABRE program), and offers specific recommendations on working with grantmakers. Includes worksheet and handout material that is easily reproducible. 

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Date Published: February 2005

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