PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY Study: Four Maryland Cities Among Most Ethnically Diverse in State Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer Four Montgomery County cities – Silver Spring, Rockville, Germantown, and Gaithersburg – count among the top 10 most ethnically diverse in the nation, a new survey revealed. With a population of nearly
262,000, Jersey City, N.J., topped the most ethnically diverse cities in America list. With a population of about 68,000, Gaithersburg is second, and Germantown, with a population of nearly 91,000, is third. Silver Spring and Rockville finished at fifth and seventh respectively, with New York City sand-
wiched between the two Maryland cities. In light of discussions of racial and ethnic equality that have been prominent in the past year, the personal-finance website, WalletHub, said it took a snapshot of America’s current cultural profile. Researchers compared more than 500 of the largest U.S. cities across three key indicators of diversity – ethnicity and race, language, and birthplace. The District ranked 102 overall. Its highest score was 31st in the category of birthplace diversity. Parkersburg, W.Va., Hialeah, Fla., Clarksburg, W.Va., Barre, Vt., and Watertown, S.D., were the country’s five least ethnically diverse cities. Jackson, Miss., has the highest concentration of African Americans (82 percent), while Green River, Wyo., has the lowest (0.01 percent). Saco, Maine, has the highest white American concentration (95 percent), while Hialeah, Fla., had the lowest (2.68 percent).
New Information Fuels Case of County’s Black Police Officers
William J. Ford WI Staff Writer
An ongoing lawsuit against the Prince George’s County police department illustrates additional incidents of racially-motivated and retaliatory conduct against Black and Latino officers and citizens,
based on new unredacted information released Monday, Feb. 22. The information filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt includes a report written last year by former Los Angeles County Sheriff Michael E. Graham on behalf of a group of current and former Prince George’s police officers who filed a suit in De-
5 New allegations citing police incidents from a report on Prince George’s County released Feb. 22. (William J. Ford/The Washington Informer)
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cember 2018. Some of the new information includes a case of two white officers who posted racial epithets on their social media accounts. One of the officers, a sergeant at the time, posted a message on a Yahoo chat group for current and retired Prince George’s officers. In part, according to the Graham report, he called members of his command staff “baboons” and later posted, “Unless you’re in the ghetto-fide, butt-slappin, high-fivin, incompetent retard . . . you will always be wrong . . . specially if you don’t speak Ebonics.” The report states the department reduced his rank and fined him $250 with the case closed in January 2013. “He was retained by the Department and in February 2018 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant,” the Graham report alleges. Other allegations include the department’s failure to investigate three complaints in 2016 and 2018 from the constituents of former Del. Jimmy Tarlau and council members Dannielle Glaros and Den Taveras. The
5 Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland (Courtesy Livability)
Hialeah also has the highest concentration of Latinos (96 percent), while Greenville, Miss., has the lowest (0.58 percent). “Diverse cities provide residents with a fuller array of Americana,” stated Dr. Rodney D. Coates, a WalletHub expert and professor of Global and Intercultural Studcomplaints went directly to former police chief Hank Stawinski, the report states. The county released a statement Monday in regards to the judge’s decision to release the unredacted Graham report. However, the county hired former police veteran J. Thomas Manger who countered the “assumptions” made in the Graham report. “The Manger Report repeatedly points out instances where Mr. Graham failed to review or consider essential documents, misstates key facts and dates, takes statements and events out of context and relies solely on the allegations of some disgruntled and discredited officers,” said Rhonda L. Weaver, an attorney in the county’s Office of Law. “The Manger Report concluded that, on the whole, the Department has complied with its policies for addressing harassment and discrimination complaints, which are commensurate with best practices and industry standards.” According to a redacted report from Manger dated Oct. 19, the county disputes a discrimination charge in regards to former Capt. Joe Perez being promoted to the rank in February 2016. Perez sought a pro-
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ies and the coordinator of Black World Studies at Miami University in Ohio. “It allows them to learn how to cope with and deal with the future when we as a Nation are more diverse. It helps us to realize that we are not a monolith but a mosaic,” Dr. Coates remarked. He added that diversity and difference are hard because it requires everyone to learn to set aside prejudices and stereotypes. Ethnic diversity is not typically just about culture. Still, other variables, particularly economics, are often made more complicated, stated Jennifer Hamer, a WalletHub expert, and professor in the Department of African American Studies at Pennsylvania State University. “The challenges of living in an ethnically diverse city are not natural but socially constructed. Ethnic diversity does not mean that there is ethnic equity among the different demographic groups,” Hamer insisted. When ethnic diversity is coupled with economic inequity, and this inequity tends to be structured along ethnic lines, groups may compete for resources rather than recognize their shared interests in cooperation and collaboration, Hamer added. “Negative stereotypes – new or old – often guide interactions and can be used to justify how those of low income are treated by those of means or to justify policies that protect the space of middle and upper income from those of lesser means, etcetera.” WI @StacyBrownMedia
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