MARIA MELCHIORRE
Staff Writer
On the evening of Feb. 15, Fredonia’s Black Student Union held a panel discussion titled “Know Your Rights.” The panel included political science professor Jonathan Chausovsky and Buffalo Police officer Debra Perry.
“Do we treat people fairly or equal?” was a main question Perry addressed. The presentation included diagrams showcasing the delicate balance of trust between the government and the community. With many hypotheticals being thrown out by students — such as getting pulled over while in labor, or whether or not a citizen is in the wrong to sass an officer — Perry took the time to address both the subjectivity and objectivity of a police officer’s line of work.
“We all need to recognize that we have prejudices, preconceived notions about people. It’s not right, but it’s there,” said Perry on the matter of police subjectivity toward black individuals.
She went on to state that the Buffalo Police Department has recently been working on reformatting and adding more emphasis to their multicultural understanding lessons in the academy.
The presentation included useful information about the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure, and the Freedom of Information Law, in regards to any instances of detainment.
“The thing is, it seemed a lot of us knew most of our rights already and really just wanted to know what to do in the event that an officer is being unnecessarily aggressive, which was hard for them to answer. And I get it, because the answer isn’t always black and white. No two situations will be the exact same,” said Ibraheem Jara, a junior animation and illustration major.
This notion of police brutality was apparent in the audience atmosphere. In a national climate that casts many blacks in opposition to violent police forces, presentations such as this help break down the delicate balance between the government and the community.