Oakland officials to meet with Nextdoor to reduce racial profiling

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland city officials will be meeting with representatives from a social media site called Nextdoor Tuesday to discuss ways to curtail racial profiling on the popular forum.

Some residents in the Dimond District said they notice all too often that posts on Nextdoor cross the line. Now, the city is partnering with them and Nextdoor to try and do something about it.

Neighbors have been warning fellow neighbors on Nextdoor about things they think are suspicious. They include descriptors like African American males, baggie pants and hooded sweatshirts.

Neighbors for Racial Justice is one group concerned about the posts and what's considered suspicious. "What is right about me not being able to stand in my neighborhood for too long right or pull over in my car and use my phone for too long," Neighbors for Racial Justice spokesperson Shikira Porter said.

"Racial profiling is happening all too often," Oakland city councilmember Annie Campbell Washington said.

Washington chairs Oakland's Life Enrichment Committee. "So what we are doing is educating neighbors that if you want to report suspicious behavior that behavior should be about a crime against property or against people and it should have specific information about that crime," she said.

Nextdoor released a statement saying: "We explicitly prohibit racial profiling in our member guidelines and will continue to educate our members on how to keep all conversations on Nextdoor neighborly and productive."

Representatives from the San Francisco-based company will present Oakland officials with a plan to reduce profiling on their site at a meeting on Tuesday.