Speaker suggests review board

The speaker said he is working on issues his father began 40 years ago.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
WARREN -- Martin Luther King III says a civilian review board with subpoena powers could help end disputes between city police and black residents here.
The review board could help eliminate police brutality, misconduct and racial profiling, he said.
The problem, he said, is a "rogue element" found in police departments.
Police won't like the idea of the board, he said, but several officers should serve on it. The mayor and council should also be involved.
King, the eldest son of late civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is the head of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.
He previously was president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization his father co-founded.
King, who spoke Saturday at the Warren-Trumbull Urban League's annual gala at the W.D. Packard Music Hall, said the two groups have slightly different approaches to improving police and community relationships.
King said he had been researching such problems before Sept. 11, when the terrorist attacks on the United States became the focus of the country.
But King noted that it is 2004 and that he's still dealing with issues, "my dad launched in 1963 in the March on Washington."
There are over 2 million people in jails in the United States, and a disproportionate number are black, he said.
Serious offenders must serve their time, King said.
Here's the problem
But without racial and diversity sensitivity training in the community, many blacks, often convicted of nonviolent crimes, will continue to be in a revolving door of prison sentences.
"That goes back to racial profiling," King added.
Blacks or Hispanics may act or react in a way that others do not understand.
The National Urban League has been involved in creating sensitivity training programs. Thomas Conley, the president of the Warren-Trumbull league, said it would take part in a Web-cast in late June. Details haven't been set.
Another issue
King also said he was concerned about blacks' being unable to get loans for businesses or personal needs.
In many cases, he said, people are denied credit simply based on where they live.
There are about 40 black churches in the Warren area that deposit their church revenues in area banking institutions every week, King said.
A majority of those church leaders should be able to arrange a meeting with a financial institution to discuss making credit available, he said.
wilkinson@vindy.com