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NAACP Will Take the Time to Get the Facts Straight
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
On Tuesday, July 31 the
NAACP Toledo Chapter held a press conference at the Mott
Branch Library to emphasize the group’s determination to
avoid rushing headlong into controversial situations without
knowing all the facts first.
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NAACP's Ray Wood and chapter officers |
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Referring specifically to
the fatal police shooting of the previous weekend, Ray Wood,
chapter president, noted that the suppositions in that
incident came out well before the facts. The deceased, Lamar
Richardson, who was being followed by officers of the Toledo
Police Department because he was suspect in the string of
convenience store robberies, was shot in north Toledo after
he was seen with a firearm according to video released by
the TPD hours after the shooting. However, reports came out
prematurely that it was an unarmed teenager who had been
shot in the back by the police.
The Richardson shooting,
noted Micheal Alexander, local chapter vice president, was
the third in a series of high-profile incidents in recent
weeks, including the Ryin Douglas-Reed traffic stop that
appeared on social media and the racist graffiti spray
painted on a house.
“We appreciate the
transparency of the administration,” Alexander said of Mayor
Wade Kapszukiewicz and the manner in which he has reached
out to the NAACP and other African-American leaders,
especially after the most recent incident.
“I think we would hope
people would take time and exhale,” said Wood, “make sure we
know what we are talking about and be part of the solution
and not the problem.”
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