CARMEN'S CORNER: Paris is not the City of Love
http://www.aframnews.com/html/interspire/articles/703/1/CARMENS-CORNER-Paris-is-not-the-City-of-Love/Page1.html
Carmen Watkins
Carmen Watkins is president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston. By Carmen Watkins
Published on 07/27/2009
A small town about 90 miles northeast of Dallas was once again the site of ongoing racial unrest for local residents. Paris, Texas was the sight of where 24-year-old Brandon McClelland’s mangled body was found Sept. 16, 2008 after being dragged on an old country road. Northeast Texas has a long history of small towns and race related murders and crime and Paris, Texas is still healing from the protests over the jailing of a Black female teenager two years ago.
A small town about 90 miles northeast of Dallas was once again the site of ongoing racial unrest for local residents. Paris, Texas was the sight of where 24-year-old Brandon McClelland’s mangled body was found Sept. 16, 2008 after being dragged on an old country road. Northeast Texas has a long history of small towns and race related murders and crime and Paris, Texas is still healing from the protests over the jailing of a Black female teenager two years ago.
Charles Crostley and Shannon Finley were accused of murdering McClelland by running him over in Finley’s pickup after a late-night beer run. They estimated that McClelland’s body was dragged more than 70 feet. Both Finley and Crostley, were released after eight months in jail and have maintained their innocence.
Authorities in the small town have denied the murder as a racial hate crime due to the fact that McClelland was friends with Finley and Crostley. In addition, a special prosecutor dismissed the charges, citing a lack of evidence, after a truck driver came forward and said he may have accidentally run over McClelland. Protesters have said the McClelland case has strong similarities to the horrific murder of James Byrd, a Black man who was chained by the ankles to a pickup by three White men and dragged to death in 1998 in the town of Jasper.
But the verdict did not stop organizers from bringing to the forefront race relations in Paris, Texas. The latest protest was organized by the Houston chapter of the New Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. There have been previous demonstrations of protest, but none have ended with direct confrontations with local “skinhead” groups.
At last week’s protest, 20-30 recognizable skinheads were present and some in the crowd were identified through their draping and holding a Nazi flag or calling out “White Power,” a sound muffled against the calls of the more than 200 voices calling for “Black Power.” State police in riot gear greeted the group on the main downtown street to break up a standoff between the groups. The call for action from the Panthers and the Nation of Islam is in response to the state’s handling of the case.
According to the latest census numbers, Paris, Texas has a population of just over 26,000. It demographic breakdown is 73 percent White and 22 percent Black. It is equally interesting to note that in the heart of the city there is a monument erected in honor of the Confederacy that dominates the front lawn of its County Courthouse. Still in the shadow of the symbolism of many years of hatred for Blacks, many locals, both Black and White, just want the outside interference to stop.
Shannon Finley (left) and Charles Ryan Crostley
pictured outside the Lamar County Courthouse where Murder charges against them in the Sept. 16, 2008 death of Brandon
McLelland were dismissed.
Charles Crostley and Shannon Finley were accused of murdering McClelland by running him over in Finley’s pickup after a late-night beer run. They estimated that McClelland’s body was dragged more than 70 feet. Both Finley and Crostley, were released after eight months in jail and have maintained their innocence.
Authorities in the small town have denied the murder as a racial hate crime due to the fact that McClelland was friends with Finley and Crostley. In addition, a special prosecutor dismissed the charges, citing a lack of evidence, after a truck driver came forward and said he may have accidentally run over McClelland. Protesters have said the McClelland case has strong similarities to the horrific murder of James Byrd, a Black man who was chained by the ankles to a pickup by three White men and dragged to death in 1998 in the town of Jasper.
But the verdict did not stop organizers from bringing to the forefront race relations in Paris, Texas. The latest protest was organized by the Houston chapter of the New Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. There have been previous demonstrations of protest, but none have ended with direct confrontations with local “skinhead” groups.
At last week’s protest, 20-30 recognizable skinheads were present and some in the crowd were identified through their draping and holding a Nazi flag or calling out “White Power,” a sound muffled against the calls of the more than 200 voices calling for “Black Power.” State police in riot gear greeted the group on the main downtown street to break up a standoff between the groups. The call for action from the Panthers and the Nation of Islam is in response to the state’s handling of the case.
According to the latest census numbers, Paris, Texas has a population of just over 26,000. It demographic breakdown is 73 percent White and 22 percent Black. It is equally interesting to note that in the heart of the city there is a monument erected in honor of the Confederacy that dominates the front lawn of its County Courthouse. Still in the shadow of the symbolism of many years of hatred for Blacks, many locals, both Black and White, just want the outside interference to stop.
Shannon Finley (left) and Charles Ryan Crostley
pictured outside the Lamar County Courthouse where Murder charges against them in the Sept. 16, 2008 death of Brandon
McLelland were dismissed.