The Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP has hit grand jury rulings in Ferguson, Mo., and in New York.
The group said, "The Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP shares in the sense of disappointment, dismay, and disgruntlement precipitated by the recent announcement that a New York Grand Jury has failed to indict in the untimely demise of Mr. Eric Garner, and along with the similarly unfortunate ruling by the Ferguson grand jury in dealing with the actions surrounding Mike Brown, view these things as an outright travesty of justice.
"We say unequivocally to the members of the Greater Chattanooga community, and particularly to the African-American community, that we share in your disbelief, we share in your hurt, we share in your pain, and we ask that in our outrage that there be no acts of violence, malice, or outward hostilities; we must be better than that and resolve to focus on our primary objectives, to bring” full justice” to the Eric Garner's, Mike Brown's, Darrien Hunt's, John Crawford's and twelve year old Tamir Rice's of our society, and for this reason we stand in unison with the NAACP on a national level as we proudly proclaim:
"'Black Lives, All Lives, Matter!' This is the reason for the NAACP's current Journey for Justice
March in Missouri in which strongly support, and for these reasons we must act now. We will act to help balance the scales of justice by promoting restorative as opposed to retributive justice. We will act by calling on the members our legal community to engage in discussions that will help educate the community about our local grand jury processes, state the need for African-Americans to be active participants in the legal community including judgeships, and stress the need for a citizens review board. Likewise, we will prepare our young people for police-public interaction by hosting a Know Your Rights Conference. We will continue to push for more employment opportunities by highlighting the need for a Ban the Box Initiative. We will continue to work with all appropriate agencies at the federal, state and local level to find successful remedies for many of the issues plaguing our local region, and we applaud the recent actions of Attorney General Holder and support many of the recent actions undertaken by the Department of Justice.
"Finally, we call for the first amendment rights of peaceful practitioners of justice to be respected during this time of national discussion and dialogue. We likewise renew our call for the recommendations as outlined in our 2010 Blue Ribbon Report to be fully implemented and adopted, and these recommendations include amongst other findings the need to : (1.) Ban the Excessive Use of Force and Racial Profiling; (2.) Diversity and Sensitivity Training; (3.) Proper use of the powers granted by the “people” in the name of public safety and the common good. As Lincoln once commented to an equally troubled nation, "With malice towards none. With charity for all. With a firmness in the right, as God sees us to do that right. Let us strive to finish the work left undone. To bind up the wounds of the nation, to care for one another, to establish a just and lasting peace for ourselves and the world over..."