Hispanic Protesters accuse Visalia officers of racial profiling

Monday, September 20, 2004 at 08:15AM
TheSpook

Claiming that police target Hispanic youths as gang members, more than 30 protesters walked through downtown Visalia on Saturday demanding awareness of their plight. Holding up signs that said, "La Virgin de Guadalupe is not a gang member," "I'm not a criminal" and "Visalia Police we need your support," the group started at the L.J. Williams Theater on Main Street and walked to the Visalia Police Department, where they held a short rally. "We're marching to draw awareness to the problem of profiling in our police department," said Daniel Lee, 18, who organized the march. In a statement handed out at the rally, Lee said although racial profiling is not a policy of the Visalia Police Department and is not being done by every police officer on the force, it is a large problem. "Whether it is one officer or 100, mistrust still forms between the community and the police force that it trusts to safeguard its homes," he stated. [more ]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).