Police, racial tensions discussed at All Lives Matter forum

Members of the Havre and Montana State University-Northern communities assembled in Northern's Student Union Building Ballroom Monday night to take part in All Lives Matter, a forum about the root causes of tension between African Americans and law enforcement.

Christina Estrada-Underwood, director of the Office of Diversity Awareness and Multicultural Programs at MSU-Northern, said that the idea to hold the forum came when Northern senior Badhasa Margarsa came to her and said a number of students were interested in discussing the issue.

The conversation took place as the deaths of several African Americans at the hands of police has led to riots in several cities across the U.S. and three months after five white police officers in Dallas were killed.

"I don't think this can go on, people can't continue dying every day," she said. "I believe we need to end the us-them attitude with this."

Margarsa spoke later in the forum about his own personal encounter with police about two years ago near Seattle.

Margarsa had been driving with his brother in a car he recently bought when they were pulled over by police, he said, adding that he thought that perhaps there had been a misunderstanding.

The officer instructed them both to get out of the car and handcuffed them, Margarsa said. He said the officer told him that he matched the description of someone who had been stealing cars in the neighborhood. He added that it wasn't until 30 minutes into the encounter, that the officer asked for his ID and paperwork. Margarsa said that in south Seattle where he was raised it was second nature to distrust police, and he kept asking questions.

About an hour after he was stopped, Margarsa said, the police finally let both he and his brother go.

"And I was just really furious, I was just ... that right there made me hate cops for about two years, up until maybe I got here," he said.

Cameron Epps, a Northern student who is black said he has had similar experiences. One such incident took place years ago when he and his father were followed by security personnel while shopping at Walmart near his Dallas home. Epps said he and his father were eventually approached by a police officer and security personnel and forced to empty their pockets and bags.

"It was embarrassing because everybody was, like, just looking at us like we did something wrong, like we were stealing," Epps said. "You got other people just looking at you like you are different. Meanwhile, all we are doing was grocery shopping like other people."

Jack Bieger, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement who had spent five years as a police chief and is now a professor of criminal justice at Northern said that clearer communications and improved relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve is key to easing the tensions.

"The general population does not understand that we have a certain set of guidelines that we must operate under that is set by the courts through many rulings they have given over the years," Bieger said.

He said law enforcement needs to go out into the community and the communities need to invite police officers to engage them.

Bieger said that he had been interviewed for a position as a police chief in a small city and asked how he would address the community if hired. He said that he told them that the first thing he would do is attend a different church in the community each Sunday and, with the permission of the pastor, go before the congregation to introduce himself, his guidelines and answer any questions people might have. Bieger said he would also want to address Parent Teacher Association meetings, social organizations and business groups within the community.

"So when we see them conduct a traffic stop or a field inquiry that we understand what they are doing," Beiger said, "that they are not picking based on race, ethnicity or nationality. It is based on a specific set of guidelines based on the courts that are the reason for being there."

Police departments in major cities like New York City and Los Angeles are starting to reach out to communities in such a way, he said.

Clearer communications and a better tone did help change Margasa's feelings about police when he moved to Havre, the student said.

"I came out here and, I am not going to lie, those cops were pretty nice to me," he said.

He said they would engage with him in casual conversation about basketball and has since made friends with some officers.