Op-Ed on Racial Profiling and Segregation by Prof. Orfield and Will Stancil in Star Tribune, Orfield Interviewed on NPR

Professor Myron Orfield, director of the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, and research fellow, Will Stancil, published an op-ed piece in the Star Tribune about what followed a 1967 presidential commission created to study racial disturbances. The commission found that "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, and one white---separate and unequal," spurring the Twin Cities to adopt proactive integration policies. Over time, however, those efforts were reversed to actually increase segregation. The op-ed connects this process to recent police violence: "Stuck bridging this divide are the police. Segregation means that most officers in poor neighborhoods have little personal connection to the area they are policing. To residents, this can make officers feel like occupiers. In white areas, segregation can cultivate the idea that the duty of the police is to enforce borders.

In an interview with National Public Radio, Professor Orfield said he wasn't surprised at the number of times Philando Castile had been pulled over for minor traffic offenses. Orfield's 2003 study on racial bias in policing found that African-Americans and Latinos were more likely than whites to be stopped by the police for traffic violations. "When you see those stark residential differences between neighboring communities, it's often a sign that there's some underlying discrimination going on," Orfield said.