Students Say They Don’t Feel Targeted Here

By Imani Harris

Miami University journalism student

Despite statistics from the department that suggest blacks may be arrested at a disproportionate rate, black students say they do not feel targeted by the Oxford Police Department.

Records show that in Oxford, only 4 percent of the city’s population is black, but almost 7 percent of people arrested last year were black.

Imokhai Okolo, senior at Miami says, "It would be interesting to look into the number of 'police interactions.'"

Okolo hopes that all interactions would be reported because he believes that this could help get a better look at what’s going on.

"It would be interesting to see that and compare it to arrest and likelihood of someone being arrested," Okolo says.

Ifeolu Claytor, senior at Miami, was even surprised by the news.

"I find it hard to believe because I can only think of a few black people who I’ve seen get cited," says Claytor.

Officers from the department said that the small populations numbers were to blame.

Black Student Action Association member and Miami senior Destiny Burdette was "surprised but not surprised" about these possibly skewed numbers.

"I don’t know really, like Oxford is mostly white and I can see people thinking that black people are being targeted, especially with all this crazy stuff going on in the world now," Burdette says, alluding to the shootings of black men in the last couple of years.

"I’m not sure if that is what’s going on here though but who knows. I doubt it," adds the senior.

Photo: The Black Student Action Association "was formed by the African American students of Miami University to increase Black representation on campus for the purpose of bettering the conditions of Black students."