GREENSBORO, NC -- In addition to the Greensboro police checkpoint in a minority neighborhood between Claremont Court apartments and their polling place at Peeler Recreation Center on this election day, it turns out there was also a police checkpoint on primary election day, May 4, 2010, also in a predominately minority neighborhood, between Parkview Apartments on Apache St. and their polling place at Hampton Academy.
This is not Mississippi in the 1960's. Why is this happening? It is not coincidental.
UPDATE: Commenter Brandon points us to Yes! Weekly's blog where Greensboro Police Chief Ken Miller addressed this matter at a community forum: "Miller said the checkpoint was cut short as soon as the department was made aware of the conflict with voting." More (8th and 9th paragraphs).
Why do you think it's happening? And who do you think is behind it?
ReplyDeleteBut..but the police chief during the primaries was back...I guess some local cop is pulling all the strings downtown and was doing it behind Belamy's back also - gasp.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what is happening and I don't know who is behind it. I think it is reasonable to think that having it happen twice on election days in the same year with nearly identical circumstances, the second time occurring after a promise that it wouldn't happen again, suggests something intentional.
ReplyDeleteMan this is a stretch. You show your license and drive on, most times without fully stopping, Is everything racial?
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about this post. It's intriguing. It comes down to this: Who has both a motive for disenfranchising poor, black voters AND the power to order traffic stops? I draw a blank on that, which leads me to believe this is poor planning or bad judgment, as opposed to something sinister. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteGood questions, Michele. I don't know the answer to those questions either. There is another possibility though, there could be some bigot in the chain of command with the right combination of authority and contempt to do it just to satisfy his own prejudices.
ReplyDeletemaybe it was set up by po in the black panther organization that did not want blacks to vote for republicans?
ReplyDelete"...there could be some bigot in the chain of command..."
ReplyDeleteIf so, he/she needs to be found out and kicked out.
It is easy to see how this could be interpreted as discriminatory but here is what Asst. Chief Rogers had to say-This is from the Yes! blog:
ReplyDelete"Assistant Chief Ron Rogers, who oversees patrols for the department, took responsibility for the mistake.
“I absolutely missed the connection that it was Election Day,” he said. “I take full responsibility for that. Chief Miller had no control over it. Nobody in city government had control. It was a request through my chain of command. Every two weeks, that squad gets together to do a special assignment. They chose that location. I approved it. Looking back I wish I had put the two together because I would have canceled it. But as soon as I got word that it sent a negative message to the community, we broke it down."
--Brandon Burgess
Brandon, thanks for the info. I'd like to update the original post above, but I cannot find this on the Yes! blog. Do you have a link?
ReplyDelete8th and 9th paragraphs in the "Chief Anwers Questions..." post.
ReplyDelete--Brandon Burgess