11 Years After the Riot: Revisiting Racial Tension

Almost every firework has at least a few main ingredients: The black powder, which provides fuel; oxidizing agents that keep the fire lit once burning; reducing agents and regulators allow the speed of reaction to be controlled. And finally, coloring agents provide the flash of brilliant color.
Just add the spark, and the reaction is often explosive and magnificent.
11 years ago — on July 4, 1998 — one simple spark set into motion an explosion, and its report is still echoing across the city of Moorhead.

The Spark

Light from the evening’s fireworks was just beginning to fade when Moorhead police officers entered the Romkey Park area of Moorhead. They were responding to reports of a domestic dispute at approximately 11 p.m.
What would have been a routine call quickly escalated into something far from average.
Police reported being verbally abused by a gathered mob that was soon hurling bottles and other projectiles at the officers. Backup was called in. Soon the area was swarming with the impromptu mob — revelers returning home from a night of fireworks — and over 100 officers from surrounding areas. Many of the officers arrived in full riot gear.
All told, 16 arrests were made, two police car windows were shattered, a police bike stolen and another set alight and hurled through the window of an apartment.
“You look at Romkey and you see that you had a group of people here that didn’t trust the police,” said Police Chief David Ebinger. “All that stuff got pushed down. And then when push came to shove… officers went into a population that was angry, and things escalated.”

The Powder Peg

Soon after the riot, Moorhead City Manager Jim Antonen said, “Let there be no misunderstanding. This area is going to come under more scrutiny than ever before.” Antonen told The Forum, “We are going to bring it into balance with the rest of the city.”
Some were alleging that the riot was racially motivated.
“There is always that police chase that you see from a helicopter, or that Bronco racing away on ‘Cops,’” said Octavio Gomez, a community organizer with the People Escaping Poverty Project (PEPP). “But how often do you see the follow-up of 100 police in riot gear come storming through a neighborhood during [an Independence Day] celebration?”
Instead of just Romkey Park, the entire city of Moorhead came under heavy scrutiny. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights came into the area to assess the situation, performing independent research and taking testimony from community members, area professors and community organizers.
Richard Henderson, the chairman of the Moorhead Human Rights Commission at the time, said, “My own personal feeling is that education is the biggest human rights problem in Moorhead because we are talking about our next generation.” He told the Commission, “My perception is that there really is quite a divide in achievement… there is a real difference of achievement between white students and students of Hispanic and Native American background in Moorhead.”
A former student of Moorhead High School, Juanita Yzaguirre, submitted a letter signed by 150 fellow students that told the commission of bullying and “racial tension” in the school system.

“We will say that we are guilty of one thing. If wanting to feel safe at school is a crime, I guess you could say that we’re all guilty. As for now, we are telling you that we want these problems to stop probably more than the school does, and we will help in any way possible to make that happen,” Yzaguirre said.
The Commission found a distinct difference of perception about police services. While 80 percent of whites believed equal service was provided to all citizens, 73 percent of minorities did not agree.
The official report was completed and released just a year after the riot. It did not look good for the city of Moorhead.
“Race report blasts Moorhead,” read a Forum headline.
In four areas the report found Moorhead wanting: education, employment, policing and housing. The report addressed issues of police profiling, disproportionate representation of minorities in alternative schools, the lack of affordable housing and a shortage of minorities on city staff, among other issues.
“We just let things escalate and escalate until things came crashing down,” Gomez said.
Essentially, once the spark was lit, it ran its course straight into the waiting powder keg of racial tension throughout the city, setting off a chain reaction.

The Flash of Light in the Sky

After the commission’s report, many hoped that this would bring about a change for the better — that the explosion in the community was shedding new light on an old problem. There was a glimmer of hope that now things would change.
Now, 10 years since the report’s release, some are wondering if anyone used this information to make a change. Is discrimination now a thing of the past?
For several years after the Commissions’ visit, it seemed as though steps were being made and efforts to curb racial tension being taken. Groups like the Justice Circle and MSUM sociology professors began to take a look at the recommendations for change made by the Commission. PEPP also worked to bring the community together to ensure a unified front.
“There was a lot of community effort for having [the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights] come down here, and then all of their work, all of the work of the community, it all pooled and brought great minds to two summits that were held at MSUM,” Gomez said. But when it came time for action, the work of the community bottlenecked when it was laid at the feet of the Moorhead Human Rights Commission (MHRC), which at the time was extremely understaffed, Gomez said.
Accountability doesn’t simply lie in the hands of the MHRC though. According to Gomez, “Particular groups should have been able to asses, for themselves, whether or not [the recommendations] applied to them.”
Naturally, the Moorhead Police Department was one group that came under fire from PEPP and groups that believed profiling was occurring. 
“There is an urgent need for the city and police administrations to develop programs and policing strategies that will foster cooperative and trusting relationships between the police and the minority communities. Such programs and strategies must actively engage the minority communities to begin to break down the barriers of distrust that have built up over the years,” stated the Commission’s report.
Mark Hansel, an MSUM professor, looked at the police stops in the years of 2000-2004. What he found has now become fodder for heavy debate. Gomez and PEPP believe Hansel’s research to clearly show evidence of profiling, while Police Chief Ebinger sees the data a different way.
“For most part the variances within the various factors were less than a percent.” Ebinger said. “I got a hold of Mark Hansel at MSUM who did the study. His indication to me was that the study didn’t prove that there was profiling. It didn’t disprove it. It showed some statistical anomalies.”
As an incentive for participating in this research, the MPD received dash mounted video cameras to record all stops made by officers. This benefit for the MPD, Ebinger said, also provides accountability for every stop, and is a further check against racial profiling on the street.
“The Human Rights Commission said that they felt that having a policy with the dash mounted video was the correct response to address concerns,” Ebinger said.
In the end, PEPP and the MPD have chosen to disagree. Tension between the two groups seems to be on the rise. While PEPP believes that officials are not being as transparent as the situation requires, Ebinger worries that PEPP’s community efforts are becoming counterproductive and sowing the seeds of further mistrust towards law enforcement. Both sides, however, agree in the need for better communication.
“There is always going to be people who have concerns about police. My advice to them is to come to us and talk about it. You don’t need a gatekeeper,” Ebinger said.
Moorhead Public Schools also had a spotlight turned on their operations as a result of the Commission’s recommendations. The Commission specifically pointed to a lack of minority teachers, possible bias in the placement of students in alternative schools and a clear perception by minorities that “equal opportunity education” was not being met.
“If somebody doesn’t point out that half the population of the alternative school happens to be Native American and Hispanics,” Gomez said,” then your perception of the people that you’ve taken in as your community members are only there to service your fields and/or to move on out.”
In the schools a major issue has been the idea that there is a high disparity in the rate at which minorities are placed into alternative programs. “Why, here 10 years later, that there is over 67 percent of the kids that are kids of color,” said PEPP Executive Director Duke Schempp. “Ten years ago it was close to half.”
Moorhead Public Schools Superintendant Lynne Kovash has been in the system for 12 years. Kovash saw the Commission report as a great opportunity. “It was good to have an outside source take a look at things,” Kovash said. “It became a community effort. It was all of us working together.”
Since that time Kovash says a lot of work has been done. As the Commission suggested, a task force to study the alternative schools was formed. In addition to Commission suggestions, Moorhead schools took a look at ways to get more minority students into advanced placement classes and increase graduation rates of all students.
As far as the high amount of minority students in the alternative schools, Kovash disagrees with Gomez, saying that those assignments are made based on skill level, self-selection and to give an “opportunity to learn differently.” But Kovash agrees with Gomez that now is a great time to revisit the issues brought up by the commission.
“Our goal is the education of our students,” Kovash said.
“What did they change?” Gomez said. “They changed their name.” (Originally the Moorhead Community Alternative Program, the name has been changed to the Red River Area Learning Center [RRALC].)
Over the years, some groups have stepped in to try to bring extra support to the community. In 2005, Youthworks, an organization that works with at-risk youth, moved into the Romkey Park area to provide kids with a place to get off of the streets and into a more constructive environment.
“We dealt with issues from basic relationship issues to drug use and sex,” said Program Manager Cheri Gerken.
Youthworks provided a home away from home for kids from all backgrounds to come and spend time and form a community. Tutors and role models were brought in to help kids turn things around and follow their dreams.
A lack of funding, however, soon had Youthworks pulling out of the area.
As focus on racial tension seemed to die out, some wondered if all the light may have faded. Was all the work and talk receding back into a dark night?

The Big Finale?

PEPP wants to make sure this does not happen. And on June 6 they announced a 10 year check-in on civil rights. They hope to turn community focus back to racial equality.
Their work certainly won’t be easy. “Talking race with people is a very difficult thing to do,” Gomez said. “Going into an institution and asking them whether or not they feel that they are contributing to racial inequality in their community isn’t any way that you can open up a conversation and have a productive dialogue… It’s like you’re telling someone you’re a racist, and now I want you to give me the qualifying factors so that I can plainly call you a racist in public. Not going to happen.”
So as the sparks of fireworks across the city are lit this July 4, and a rainbow of colored lights fills the sky, Gomez and many others across the area would like everyone to take a moment and talk about race.