West Memphis City Council Shut's Down City Gov't to Hold Police Chief Accountable

Now this is what I'm talking about when I think of black folks coming together to use their political power. Shut Down the City Government! Let's hope this show of political will makes things happen. My good brother, Villager, at Electronic Villager has been following this story of good versus evil. His post reports on how the fallout from the killing of 12-year old DeAunta Farrow continues to mount in West Memphis, AR. Sgt. Erik Sammis resigned his job on the police force four months after he shot the innocent youth [video report]. Francis Holland and the Police Brutality Blog has also been following The Killing of Deaunta Farrow.
Read more of his post and how the Killer Cop Resigns While City Council Boycotts.

Source: WREG TV

The folks at WREG TV have also been following this case and have provided great coverage of the case. Here more here and below. don't forget to send any comments you have on the WREG coverage to: shaun.chaiyabhat@wreg.com



DeAunta Farrow

Is the police shooting of 12 year-old DeAunta Farrow the reason several seats at West Memphis City Hall were empty Thursday? Every black council member was a no-show at a regular meeting of the city council, and some say it was no accident.

There's talk of a boycott to force the resignation of the city's police chief after one of his officer's killed Farrow. The officer was cleared of any wrongdoing, but that hasn't stopped calls for the badge of the city's top cop. Now a threat of a boycott to bring city business to a standstill.

Mayor William Johnson says, "I've been in office nine years and this is the first time that we've had to cancel a council meeting because of a lack of a quorum."

It may be coincidence that every black city council member was a no-show, but operation HELP says it played a role.

"We asked our councilmembers not to participate because of the indifference and the insensitivity of the African American community from the Mayor," says Hubert Bass with Operation HELP. "And whatever other reasons that the council felt that they should not participate, that's on them. But we believe that they responded to us."

Other council members were shocked, and some think a boycott may be underway. Thursday's meeting was supposed to cover passage of a city budget as well as possible discussion of pay raises for council members. More HERE

AAPP: What do you think? Should the black city council members shut down a city, in order to get a police commissioner to resign?

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