Activists still want apology from sheriff, DA
They say Goforth case wasn’t related to their movement
Members of the local Black Lives Matter movement on Tuesday renewed their call for Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman and Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson to publicly apologize for their comments following the fatal shooting last August of Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth.
At the time, Anderson said the shooting was an attack on “the very fabric of society” and that it was time for the “silent majority” to support law enforcement.
Hickman seemed to link the shooting to Black Lives Matter. “We’ve heard black lives matter, all lives matter — well, cops’ lives matter, too,” he said.
In September, Texas Southern University students and other activists first called for apologies. They described the words by the prosecutor and sheriff as “dangerous rhetoric” that unfairly tied Shannon Miles, the suspected shooter, with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Now, those individuals are pointing to revelations of a sex scandal marring the homicide investigation and the recent declaration of mental incompetence
for Miles in their call for officials to say sorry.
“As quick as they were to jump to conclusions … they need to be just as quick to apologize,” TSU student Anthony Collier said at a press conference. “As we’ve seen this scandal break out, we realize they didn’t have all of the facts and they were just jumping to conclusions, and that’s dangerous and that’s irresponsible and we expect more from those who are elected to protect us and serve us.”
Goforth was gunned down outside a Harris County convenience store
Aug. 28. Miles, 31, is charged with capital murder in the deputy’s death. Last week, the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office terminated a third deputy related to a sex scandal that has rocked the agency.
The members of Black Lives Matter were joined Tuesday by local activists who have protested Sandra Bland’s death, members of a public service employees union, and individuals with the multiracial and multiethnic Greater Houston Coalition for Justice.
“Words do matter,” said
Jerry Ford Jr., a recent TSU graduate who is a candidate for the state House seat vacated when Sylvester Turner was elected Houston’s mayor. “We held this press conference today to let everybody know that our movement is not about any anti-police rhetoric. Our activity is about making sure we are paying close attention to injustices that young African-Americans in this country face and to find a way to close the communication gap between communities of color and our law enforcement officials.”
Last week, Hickman expressed “regret” about asserting that anti-law enforcement public pronouncements contributed to the killing but stood by his belief that Goforth was targeted solely because he was in uniform. Tuesday, Hickman’s media relations office said in a statement: “The Sheriff sees no current need to revisit this issue.”
Anderson’s spokesperson said she has not made any apologies but met with a group of community leaders Sept. 9. Attendees included NAACP Houston branch president James Douglas, Catholic Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, Greater Houston Partnership CEO Bob Harvey and the Rev. Bill Lawson, a local social justice legend and pastor emeritus of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.
In that meeting, she said that she did not know that “silent majority” had a connotation dating back to the late 1960s when President Richard Nixon used the phrase to describe white conservatives who supported the Vietnam War but were not as vocal as people in the streets.
“I was asking people who don’t attend protests, who don’t write their congressmen, who may not be politically active to join together to support the local police officers who protect us all every day,” Anderson said in a statement Tuesday.
Ford and Collier said the people invited to that meeting do not represent Black Lives Matter.
Last week, leaders of the Houston NAACP also were criticized by activists such as Tammie Lang Campbell — the former president of the Missouri City and Vicinity NAACP branch — for honoring Anderson with an award that salutes attorneys who have displayed legal excellence and contributed to criminal justice reform.