Police Chiefs, African American Community Leaders to Discuss ‘Building Bridges’ at Baker Institute Summit

Media Advisory



CONTACT: Michael Cinelli
PHONE: (713) 831-4794
E-MAIL mcinelli@rice.edu

POLICE CHIEFS, AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY LEADERS
TO DISCUSS `BUILDING BRIDGES’ AT BAKER INSTITUTE SUMMIT

Seeking solutions for strained relations between the
nation’s police departments and the African American community will be the focus
of a one-day summit at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at
Rice University on Sept. 26.

The summit will be held in the Kyle Morrow Room of the Fondren Library at
Rice. The program, made possible by a grant from AT&T, will start at 9 a.m.
and end at 5 p.m. Accepting invitations to attend the conference are: Hugh
Price, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League;
Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Clever II, president of the National Conference of
Black Mayors; Jewell Jackson McCabe, chairperson of the National Coalition of
100 Black Women; David Walchak, president of the International Association of
Chiefs of Police; Paul F. Evans, commissioner of the Boston Police Department;
and Sam Nuchia, Houston’s chief of police.

“Throughout America there is a growing mistrust between the police and the
African American community,” said Lee P. Brown, senior scholar at the Baker
Institute and former “drug czar” in the Clinton Administration. Brown will serve
as director of the summit.

“This problem manifests itself in a variety of ways, the most critical being
the relationship between the police and the African American youth. As a result,
an increasingly large number of American cities are dangerously tense, described
by some observers as tinder boxes.”

The growing polarization between police and African Americans has been
exacerbated by recent events. For example, the Rodney King incident still has
negative consequences in the African American community. The O.J. Simpson trial
served not only to divide America along racial lines, it also cast further
doubts on the police in the eyes of the African American community throughout
the nation.

Space in the Kyle Morrow Room and the media work area in the adjacent lounge
will be limited. Please contact Michael Cinelli, director of the Rice University
News Office, at (713) 831-4794 or by E-mail at mcinelli@rice.edu, as soon as possible if
you plan on covering the summit.

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