By Marshall Allen, Staff Writer, Pasadena Star News

PASADENA -- In several weeks, African-American minister Curtis May will be one of the
primary leaders of a racial reconciliation meeting between Pasadena police officers
and members of the minority community. He brings some unique qualifications to the
job.

About five years ago, May, now 60 and director of the Worldwide Church of God's Office
of Reconciliation Ministries, was sitting in his parked car in a mostly Caucasian
neighborhood near Alhambra.

Suddenly, two police cars approached with lights flashing. They pulled in front of May's
new Ford Thunderbird, blocking him."Put your hands up!" an officer shouted. The
policeman's gun was a few feet away and pointed at May's head.

It took some convincing, but the police officers eventually realized that May was an
innocent minister, not a suspect. They told him they had been responding to a call from
neighbors about an African-American man who fired four shots from a gun into the
neighborhood.

May said that he, like many men of color, has been mistreated by the police so often
that he does not bother filing complaints. He does not blame the officers for responding
to the calls of neighbors, he said. But he said he's never had one of them apologize.
"Just a small apology would be nice," he said.

Pasadena police Chief Bernard Melekian gave a blanket apology for wrongs committed
by the Pasadena Police Department at a recent community meeting. Melekian also
announced his desire to hold a specific event to further racial reconciliation between
Pasadena's police and residents. He invited May and other local experts to facilitate
the process.

The event, called "Points of View," is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at
All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. All community members are invited to
attend.

Joe Brown, president of the Pasadena branch of the NAACP, said there is a distrust of the
police in the African-American community. It stems largely from heavy-handed tactics of
police officers, he said.

Over the past six months, the Pasadena police have improved the relationship with the
African-American community, Brown said. The June 25 event is an important step in
restoring the relationship, he said.

Melekian said there are two primary goals for the event. First, to acknowledge past injustices
done by the police against minority residents and commit to improving relationships.
Second, for residents to recognize the humanity of police officers.

"It has become too easy to demonize the individual officers" who are human beings with
the intention of doing good, he said.

Organizers said the meeting is intended to start the reconciliation process. It's expected
there will be future meetings to further understanding between the police and
minorities.

May said that the meeting will not be religious, but will be based on the Office of
Reconciliation Ministries' four steps toward permanent reconciliation:
1) acknowledge the issues;
2) be willing to change to a different way of interacting;
3) reach out and reconcile with former enemies, and begin doing things together;
4) and love one another.
May said he expects between 200 and 250 people at the meeting, which will include
police officers and minority residents sharing personal stories about times they
have been mistreated.

The participants will then break into small groups to discuss their own experiences with
racial injustice. Members of the law enforcement community --the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department is also sending representatives -- will be in each group.

Trained facilitators from the Western Justice Center Foundation, which specialized in
conflict resolution, will be involved in leading the groups. Najeeba Syeed-Miller, executive
director of the foundation, said small groups provide maximum participation.

The community needs to move from an adversarial relationship to collective accountability,
Syeed-Miller said.

"In one day it's impossible to resolve everything," she said. "But it is possible to frame the
questions and begin to put together a sense of what the issues are that exist between
the community and police."

-- Marshall Allen can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4461, or by e-mail at marshall.allen@sgvn.com.