wfn.org | Racial profiling is a sin, bishop says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 25, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-21-31-71BP{351}

NOTE: A photograph of Bishop Alfred Johnson is available with this report.

By United Methodist News Service

Concern over the police practice of racial profiling has led United
Methodist Bishop Alfred Johnson and other New Jersey religious leaders to
urge the state to change its ways.

"I think racial profiling, like sin at any level...needs to be addressed,"
Johnson told United Methodist News Service in a June 24 telephone interview.

The bishop was author of a statement on racial profiling released by the
Coalition of Religious Leaders of New Jersey during a June 22 press
conference at the State House in Trenton. Signed by 21 coalition members, it
represented a number of Protestant denominations, along with Muslims and
Jews.

Expressing deep concern "that racial tensions continue to divide our state,"
the statement urged Gov. Christine Todd Whitman to nominate a new state
police superintendent from outside the system to change a department that
"appears to be out of control." It also called for the government to release
the second part of a report on racial profiling.

The previous superintendent was fired in February after making remarks
suggesting minorities were responsible for drug trafficking in New Jersey. 

"Because we all wish to avoid the possibility of a racial explosion in this
state, we believe this situation demands prompt and sensitive action by the
governor and the legislature," the statement said.

A statement issued by the New Jersey Council of Churches, which includes
United Methodists among its members, labeled racial profiling as "the
assignment of criminal behavior in broad strokes to persons of specific
ethnic groups" and called it "an unacceptable practice by any arm of law
enforcement."

The Rev. Jack Johnson, a district superintendent in the United Methodist
Southern New Jersey Conference, was a signer of the coalition's statement.
He pointed out that the group was joining a battle that the Black Ministers
Council of New Jersey has been fighting for 18 months. But, he added, the
religious leaders wanted to demonstrate that racial profiling is not just a
concern for African Americans. 

"It's an issue for the entire state," he said. "Clearly, the state police
system now is deeply, deeply in trouble."

Bishop Johnson believes that any Christian should be offended by a practice
that violates the teachings of faith through racial stereotyping.

He is optimistic that the press coverage received by the coalition will help
get its message to the public and to state officials. "To me, what's
important is that whites know that racism is still very, very real."

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