Elizabeth City has denied the NAACP’s permit to hold a march on the anniversary of Andrew Brown Jr. being fatally shot in the back of the head while fleeing sheriff’s deputies.
The civil rights group sought permission to march 1.1 miles in a square starting at the downtown waterfront, one year after Brown’s death shook the city and triggered nationwide protest over police violence.
Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank Branch of the NAACP, said his group submitted an application to march at 5 p.m. on April 21. They soon received a call from the deputy city clerk asking the event’s purpose.
Payback: ‘That sacrifice was so worth it’
“I told them it was the ‘Journey to Justice,’ “ Rivers said. “She said that was the anniversary of Andrew Brown’s murder. I said, ‘Yes it is.’ She wrote that in.”
‘WE’RE MARCHING ONE MILE’
Nine days later, Rivers said, the NAACP received word the permit had been denied on recommendation of the fire and police chiefs. When he called, the police chief told him the department could not support it.
“They just had a marathon here that shut the whole city down,” Rivers said. “We’re marching one mile. We have had nothing but nonviolent protests. We have been out here every day for Andrew.”
Last April, a task force made up of Paquotank County sheriff’s deputies and other officers arrived at Brown’s house to serve warrants stemming from a lengthy drug investigation.
He sped away across the yard as they opened fire, one of the bullets breaking through the rear windshield and striking him in the back of the head. He was unarmed.
District Attorney Andrew Womble declined to bring charges against any officer, calling the shooting, “while tragic, justified.”
Brown ignored orders to raise his hands and get out of his car, and he struck a deputy with the vehicle while trying to escape, Womble said at the time. No officers were injured.
Hundreds of protesters marched daily for months, usually across busy Ehringhaus Street, where the NAACP planned a portion of its demonstration.
Marchers chanted “No justice, no peace” while officers’ cars both led and followed their group. No injuries or property damage came from any of the incidents, which Rivers said have continued daily.
“Every day somebody has marched that street for Andrew,” he said. “We have not missed a day. Not during the snow. Not during the tornado.”
Elizabeth City Councilman Darius Horton, active in the Brown marches last year, said he felt concerned that the permit application never came before the council.
“This did not come across our desk,” he said. “We were not even made aware. I’m in full support of this march.”
He planned to pursue answers, and Rivers said the NAACP will approach the council at its next meeting.
“We plan to see them again,” he said.
Messages to the Elizabeth City Police Department have not yet been returned.
*story by The Raleigh News & Observer