Protesters outside the home of City Council Vice Chairman Ken Smith in Hixson
Protesters have gone to the home of a second City Council member.
Vice Chairman Ken Smith said he had a visit at his Hixson home.
He said, “People have every right to peacefully protest but coming to my home is targeting my family, not peacefully protesting.
There is nothing peaceful about creating fear in my children and my neighbors.
"If the protesters hoped this behavior would help move this discussion forward or make me want to want to work with them, they are wrong.”
Protesters earlier went to the home of Chairman Chip Henderson, and he also had a negative response.
Marie Mott and Cameron Williams, leaders of nightly protests in Chattanooga, disavowed the home visits to council members.
They said: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws,” was one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s many famed quotes. And decades later in downtown Chattanooga, there are a growing number of people questioning many of these unjust laws.
"That does not mean we will always agree on what each of us thinks is the best way to achieve justice.
"@ICantBreatheCHA was formed from the inception of the 2020 protests following the documented murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police officers. Since, we have partnered with Concerned Citizens for Justice and Democratic Socialists of America Chattanooga Chapter during the protests, and we have nothing but respect for their founders and the work they have done.
"However, Marie Mott and Cameron Williams, as the public faces of @ICantBreatheCHA, cannot support recent actions at the homes of local elected officials. This is the level of privacy invasion that we are fighting against for the greater public good, and we do not believe meeting them at this level is the answer.
"As an organization, our goal is to inform and engage the public in civic dialogue, and effect change.
"Police brutality, participatory budgeting, 8toAbolition initiatives, and many other human rights issues are shared passions of ours and the other organizations we align with.
"While our belief in the injustice of these laws is shared by CCJ and Chattanooga DSA, it cannot be assumed that all of our actions align.
"We will always support, encourage, and participate in public protest and the rights of the people to use their voices. However, any additional direct action by these organizations cannot be condoned by @ICantBreatheCHA at this time."