BRIAN CHILSON
cil out of a total of 10 (not counting the mayor), but the levers of power are in the hands of whites. The mayor is white, and key city officials are white, as well as the vast majority of policemen and firemen. A change in the black leadership began to emerge with the shooting death of DeAunta Farrow. Initially, African-Americans in West Memphis seemed united. A group called the Concerned Pastors and Citizens met with city officials, including police Chief Robert “Bob” Paudert in August 2007, but accomplished little of substance. The Concerned Pastors and Citizens group began to fall apart. Though on the surface after the disintegration of the pastors’ group there seemed to be no organizational challenge to the perceived abuses by the West Memphis Police Department, clearly the black community was providing a barrage of complaints to their ward representatives, James Pulliaum, Herman Coleman, Lorraine Robinson and Marco McClendon. Some of the black councilmen, responding to constituents in their wards, became irate over the continuing reports of overly aggressive tactics of the West Memphis Police Department under the leadership of Chief Paudert, who is white. Like a number of police departments throughout the country, the West Memphis police engaged in what has been termed proactive police measures. Paudert announced in August 2009, two years after Farrow’s death, that, after consulting with the mayor, the West Memphis police would have different enforcement policies for the east and west neighborhoods in the city. “Starting today ... we will be a reactive police force in the east sections of the city. They don’t want us in their community.” Paudert said, “For my police officers and this department, it is not a black/white thing, its [sic] about people. The fact is, most crime is committed in the black community. We risk our lives going into those communities to protect them. Then they complain about us.” He said that the complaints were affecting the department. “It is hard on our officers. We are losing them. We lost two today to Memphis. We are demoralized by the action of our employers.” He called for public support of the police. Councilman Pulliaum, who worked for 15 years as a patrolman and jailer for the Crittenden County Sheriff’s office, was an early supporter of Paudert and is still sympathetic to the principle of
AFRIKA: Controversial NAACP officer.
“active” policing. In a recent interview, he added, however, that in order for this technique to work, law enforcement has to know the community and earn its trust. Pulliaum, who has represented Ward Two on the City Council for 17 years, said that after taking the job as chief of police in West Memphis, Paudert seemed to change overnight. Black officers in senior positions began to leave the WMPD or were fired. An article in the Evening Times newspaper quoted Councilwoman Lorraine Robinson as saying that her constituents were “outraged” by Paudert’s decision to treat the east side of West Memphis differently. White council member Tracy Catt, who represents Ward One, also told the the Times that “every portion of this city deserves to have police presence.” On Aug. 31, 10 days after changing the policy, Chief Paudert announced that the police department was resuming active policing on the east side of town. Controversy
would remain, however, over the actions of the West Memphis Police Department. Some in the black community decided that it was worth trying to reform an organization that had a long tradition in Crittenden County: The NAACP. In 2004, three years before Farrow’s death, a challenge had been made to the leadership of Willie Catha-Jones, who had served as president of the Crittenden County NAACP since 1994. Hubert Bass, now a Crittenden County justice of the peace, agreed to run against CathaJones, but before the vote took place, Dale Charles, president of the Arkansas Conference of Branches of the NAACP, drove from Little Rock to West Memphis and postponed the election. Catha-Jones was re-elected the following week. Efforts by the reformers to change the leadership of the Crittenden County NAACP got in high gear in 2010. The reformers were led by Hubert Bass; Sha-
baka Afrika, owner of Afrika Books and Cultural Center, and Lawrence Brown. Brown, 33, with a doctorate in health and public policy from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Kellogg Foundation at Morgan State University in Baltimore, was uniquely qualified for the role. Like a number of AfricanAmerican leaders, he is also a preacher and served briefly as a temporary pastor at the Second Congregational United Church of Christ in Memphis. In March 2010, in a single-spaced fivepage letter, Brown wrote the national offices of the NAACP in Baltimore, setting out in detail specific allegations and violations of the organization’s policy in four areas: (1) the use of West Memphis police to intimidate NAACP members opposed to Catha-Jones’ leadership; (2) the failure of Catha-Jones to support efforts of the black community to protest the actions of the West Memphis Police Department; (3) the failure of the leadership to conduct official business meetings from December 2009 to April 2010, and (4) the failure of Catha-Jones to provide him with requested records of the Crittenden County NAACP during her tenure to determine the fiscal condition of the branch. Brown warned of litigation if these matters were not addressed. On May 8, 2010, 20 members of the Crittenden County NAACP signed their names to a letter requesting a meeting with Catha-Jones, who responded by letter that the chapter must follow “protocol” and that such a meeting would be out of order. Catha-Jones’ actions satisfied neither the members of the reform group nor some black members of the City Council. CathaJones had a history with the City Council: According to the Evening Times, in 2009 she had “come under criticism from several [black] council members for intervening in city affairs.” Councilman Coleman said that a press conference held by Paudert with her sitting next to him “was an example of the police chief getting Jones to say whatever they wanted [Jones] to say.” Other members questioned her authority. “Council members also voiced displeasure when it was announced that Catha-Jones was notified of [the hiring of] a temporary internal affairs director at the police department before the council was told of the change.” Her response was that the community had to work with the police. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
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