African-American pastors in Murfreesboro say the arrests of school children last Friday were an “injustice” and an “act of tyranny.” But they’re also trying to defuse some of the racial tension.
Clergy joined black lawmakers at the state capitol on Thursday at a press conference. Several argued that 10-year-olds would never be handcuffed in a more affluent school. Parents at Hobgood Elementary say their kids were accused of not intervening in an off-campus fight.
Rep. Joe Towns of Memphis called it “idiotic policing.” Rep. G.A. Hardaway of Memphis said it was a “barbaric way of managing communities.”
But Rev. James McCarroll, who has been as close to the situation as anyone, said the response should not be barbaric.
“There are civil ways to handle this,” said the pastor at First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro.
“Instead of us going out and rioting or going out, marching and burning down buildings — which truly have never proven to be the most effective means to promote policy change nor direct change — we would rather do the things that have a long-lasting effect,” McCarroll said.
McCarroll says first and foremost, there should be no legal record of these arrests for the kids involved. He says he doesn’t condone fighting. But he calls what he’s seen on the
YouTube video making the rounds a “scuffle.”
But whether or not it was really a fight is beside the point to McCarroll, who says he hopes it opens a wider dialogue about policing in Murfreesboro’s growing minority communities.
The city’s police department has not given any specifics about the arrests, citing laws that protect juvenile records. The department has invited a handful of pastors to participate in what’s being called an “after action review.” A report is due May 2.
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