Minority residents in Moorhead are unfairly targeted by police, underrepresented in the public work force and discriminated against in school, according to a report released Tuesday.

A report prepared for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights criticizes Moorhead police, and city and school leaders, for treating minorities differently based on their skin color.

“The community needs to have an open and candid examination of these disparities,” Lester Collins, executive director of the state Council on Black Minnesotans, told a crowd in Moorhead.

Collins was one of 11 members of the Minnesota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights who drafted the 40-page report presented Tuesday.

The report concludes many white residents don’t recognize that barriers preventing minorities from employment opportunities or equal housing exist in Moorhead.

It also finds minority groups believe they are being discriminated against by police.

Collins said many minorities interviewed in the report complained of “unequal and unfair treatment” by law enforcement.

That sentiment is bolstered by disproportionate arrest rates between whites and minorities, he said.

Whites make up 94 percent of Moorhead’s population but comprise 46 percent of adult arrests. Meanwhile, Latinos make up 3 percent of the population and 38 percent of adult arrests, according to the report.

Results of a 1999 survey revealed 78 percent of whites in Moorhead agreed or strongly agreed that police give equal respect to whites and minorities.

Roughly 87 percent of minorities felt police didn’t give the same respect to both groups.

Collins said there is an “urgent need” to develop new programs to foster trust between police and minority communities in the city.

Moorhead Police Chief Grant Weyland said police officials will review the report’s recommendations for promoting trust between the groups.

“I don’t know if there is a problem there, but we’ll certainly look at that,” Weyland said. “I think some of that may be caused by perceptions of law enforcement, rather than reality.”

Collins also attacked Moorhead’s crime-free multihousing program.

He said the program, which screens prospective renters’ criminal history, creates a “de facto segregation” and may violate state privacy laws.

“This program needs reassessment,” Collins said.

People Escaping Poverty Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-income and minority groups, criticized the program last year.

PEPP leaders said the program gives landlords a distorted view of a person’s suitability as a renter.

Weyland disagreed with both views. He said the program has been an effective tool to improve rental housing in the city.

The report also found:

- Egregious racial attitudes are not tolerated by most people.

- The Moorhead Human Rights Commission is understaffed with little power. The report suggested the commission be given the power to investigate complaints.

- Per capita income for minorities was nearly one-third that of whites, and minorities are clustered in the lower half of the labor pool. Per capita income for whites in Clay County is $14,197, compared to $5,001 for Latinos and $5,124 for American Indians.

- Achievement levels for minorities in Moorhead classrooms are significantly lower than for their white counterparts.

Minorities comprise 15 percent of the enrollment in Moorhead Schools, but they make up 54 percent of students in alternative learning programs.

Also, minorities have higher dropout rates and are more likely to be disciplined than whites.

Alicia Rodriguez, an outreach worker for Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota, said Iranian, Bosnian and Kurdish students she’s spoken to believe they are unjustly disciplined.

“They’ve told me if they raise their hands, they’re ignored,” she said. “I felt that if these students feel this way growing up, there’s something wrong with the system.”

Moorhead Schools Superintendent Larry Nybladh said the report can be used to promote cultural awareness in the district.

“We must embrace this as an opportunity to further improve our schools and community,” he said.

Nybladh added the district is making progress in targeting and eliminating discrimination in the school system.

“If we aren’t doing a good enough job, we need to work hard and do better,” he said, “but we must also recognize the advancements that have and are being made.”

Collins said the report wasn’t prompted by any specific racial incident in Moorhead.

It stemmed from a handful of concerns the committee received from residents and a desire to expand the panel’s work outside the Twin Cities area, he said.

The report ended with a list of recommendations for improving race relations in Moorhead.

Collins said city and school officials should create affirmative action programs to hire and promote people of color.

He said Moorhead residents are “color conscious” and need to recognize that skin color may adversely affect their treatment of minorities.

“The challenge to Moorhead is whether its citizens have the courage to let people of color have the same … rewards and opportunities they do,” he said.