A group is planning a conference on Oct. 3 at Pilgrim Congregational Church on "How To End Police Brutality In Chattanooga."
It will be from noon to 3 p.m. at the church at 400 Glenwood Dr.
JoNina Ervin, one of the organizers, said, "For over 30 years, Chattanooga, Tn., has led the nation in fatal police shootings and deaths in custody for cities of 200,000 persons and under. (Department of Justice statistics).
"In fact, 61 persons have died in police custody or been gunned down in the streets by Chattanooga metro area cops since 1978.
"Five persons have been slaughtered in 2009 alone, including three cases this summer: 15-year-old Alonzo O’Kelley, Jr., shot in the back by a Housing Authority cop; the especially brutal murder of Alonzo Heyward, blasted 43 times (out of 59 rounds discharged) by six cops while he lay begging for his life; and the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Richard LaMark Dunn in East Ridge, also shot in the back two times.
"Lorenzo Ervin and Maxine Cousin conducted a 17-year anti-police brutality campaign in Chattanooga, (the Concerned Citizens for Justice), and have some ideas for the current crisis. Help us build a broad-based coalition in Chattanooga and the South, which can lead a fight-back campaign to stop these police murders and end cop terrorism once and for all.
"Please come to the Oct. 3 conference to help plan a protest campaign to make sure that justice is done. This mass meeting will discuss solutions to the grave crisis of police brutality in Chattanooga, but most importantly, how to organize to take radical action to beat back the cops, not lament that yet another person is dead. Don't mourn, organize."