The following article incorrectly stated that the reporter made repeated phonecalls to Evanston Police Department Chief Frank Kaminski. The Daily regrets this error.

More than 30 black parents and guardians filled Evanston’s Human Services Committee meeting on Monday to convince aldermen that their sons are being racially profiled.

When there are two or more versions of a story, they say, it seems as if its the white man’s version going down as fact.

In the last year, they say they’ve filed a number of complaints to the Evanston Police Department and discussed their problems with the city.

But they’ve seen little change.

Pat Gregory, one such black mother, received a letter in the mail last Thursday. She filed a complaint with the EPD that her 15-year-old son, Brad Barrett, along with her nephew, was wrongly arrested and punished in August 2005. The letter refuted the grievance, and stated that the grievance was unfounded.

Gregory said Barrett was standing outside the Century 12 Theaters on Maple Avenue in Evanston with his friends when a police officer arrested him without a reason. Her nephew was also arrested for asking if he could go along with Barrett to the police station.

When Barrett was released from the station, he was prohibited from going downtown for seven days, she said.

“My son didn’t even have the opportunity of due process,” Gregory said. “But he was punished.”

Barrett said when he asked the officer at the station what he had done wrong, the officer refused to discuss the matter.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry about what you did,'” Barrett said. “‘We’ll tell you what you did.'”

The Evanston Human Services Committee voted to have the police revisit the complaint during Monday’s heated meeting. It is not enough to have police investigate themselves because they will protect each other, Gregory and other parents who addressed the committee said on Monday. They called for more transparency.

“If it’s a class action suit we need, we will get that,” Gregory said.

The August story about Barrett changes depending on who is telling it.

The police report stated that Barrett and his friends were standing in the middle of the street and would not move to the sidewalk despite repeated demands by the officer, Chief of Police Frank Kaminski told the committee. He added that Barrett and his friends taunted the officer.

Barrett’s punishment was not a sentence but a negotiation between the parent and the police, Kaminski said.

“The whole philosophy is to change behavior,” Kaminski said. “It’s meant to be a positive thing.”

Gregory said there was no negotiation. She never would have agreed to such a punishment. Visibly angry, Gregory walked out of the meeting at one point. Other parents were vocal about their rage, interrupting speakers and yelling sarcastic comments at Kaminski.

Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) said Tuesday the police report showed the accounts by witnesses were more consistent with the officer’s version of events than the one given by Gregory and her son. Gregory’s argument that she knew her son would never be rude to a police officer was not proof, he said.

“Sometimes sons surprise their mothers,” Moran said. He added that sometimes people tend to blame racial prejudices instead of admitting guilt and taking responsibility.

Judith Treadway, secretary of the Evanston/North Shore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said there was no question police target ethnic minorities.

“It probably would have never happened to a white parent,” Treadway said.

She said for real changes to occur, police hiring policies have to be reformed. There also needs to be ongoing education for officers.

Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) agreed, adding that some officers who aren’t from Evanston do not understand the community.

“Some of them do presume that every young black man is a thief,” Jean-Baptiste said.

Neither Chief Kaminski nor Deputy Chief Joseph Bellino returned repeated calls for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Before the committee, Gregory was adamant that her son was a victim of racial profiling.

“If he’s walking down the street, if he’s black, he’s suspect,” Gregory said. “They don’t understand the psychological damage they are doing to these young black boys.”

Ultimately, the Human Services Committee has no veto power; it can only make recommendations.

“It stops at what the chief says,” Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) said.

Reach Jenny Song at [email protected].