Maury County TN Sheriff Under Fire for Racial Profiling of Hispanics
[author:Tommy Vallejos & Terry McMoore Public time:Jun 22, 2007] |
|
On Friday, June 22, 2007 at 5:00 pm there will be community meeting in Columbia, TN to address the racial profiling and discrimination of minorities in Maury County. The US Justice Department has been notify and are looking into the matter.
The Hispanic Organization for Progress & Education (H.O.P.E), NAACP (State Level) and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Coalition, we will be hearing the concerns of a fearful community. The Hispanic community is being told not to attend the community meeting because the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will conduct a raid on the premises. There have been two raids in Columbia, TN that has netted 124 undocumented immigrants. Because of these raids there is outright Racial Profiling that has now spilled over into the Indian and Pakistani communities.
Many are being stopped, questioned, and later let go only after finding out that they are not of Hispanic origin. I wonder how many of these incidents go unreported. This is totally against the law and we are now dealing with a Sheriff Department out of control. This county does not have the 287 g program that is currently in operation in Davidson County. The hoods have come off and there is now open discrimination going on.
Maury County Sheriff Enoch George said, “The department is not targeting anybody”. George also stated, ‘I can’t just walk up to someone and ask to see their identification,” he said. “Probable cause does not need to be established before any detaining can happen.”
I have talked to the Mayor of Columbia and it’s Chief of police who have both stated the value of the Hispanics in Maury County. The Chief of Police has even asked for H.O.P.E. to give in-service training to all of his police officers. H.O.P.E. is currently giving in-service training to the police force of Clarksville, TN.
We must all understand that if we do not stand up to this racist department it will only mean that others will fall. I served 21 years in the U.S. Army and understand the security of our borders, however don’t use public security as a reason to attack defenseless people based their nationality and skin color.
Pastor Tommy Vallejos, Director of H.O.P.E: (931) 320-4741
Terry McMoore, Director Urban Resource Center, (931) 378-1999
Otherinfo:931-320-4741 or 931-378-1999
Printed From:http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200706/1182504654.html
Source:Free Press Release
Similar news >>
|
|
