Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the editor:

My name is Imhotep Muhammad, and I’m a member of Virginia Organizing. Last week, I called the Suffolk city manager’s clerk’s office and told the clerk I want to be placed on the agenda. The clerk said to call city council’s clerk office and asked to be placed on the non-agenda speakers. I told the clerk I have spoken at City Council about establishing a civilian review board as a non-agenda speaker already. She said hold on. She came back and said the city manager said your request is noted.

Clearly, this was a denial. The procedure for an item to be placed on the agenda for an agenda speaker is you have to go through the city manager’s office. The city manager does not see the urgency in establishing a civilian review board for the residents of Suffolk. He does not see that African American and brown people are being shot and killed by police officers.

Just a couple weeks ago, a man on Route 58 was shot by a state trooper for allegedly hitting a state trooper with a stick. This man was shot and killed because he allegedly assaulted a state trooper with a stick. The officer never mentioned that he saw something that looked like a gun. The news said the officer suffered minor injuries. However, someone lost their life. Why? Because there is no deterrent for bad policing. There is no transparency or police accountability. This has to change with Suffolk Police Department.

Members of Virginia Organizing have reached out to the city manager Albert Moor via emails. That was to no avail. How can a city manager not make time for the people in the city that you are supposed to be working for? Why did you deny our request to be placed on the agenda?

Thanks city manager for letting people of color know that you care less about their well-being and you approve of what has been happening to people of color.

 

Imhotep Muhammad

Suffolk