Hoover protest leaders say city's 'good faith' efforts led to protest halt

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Leaders of the protests over the Hoover police shooting at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night today confirmed they are halting their protests in Hoover due to the "good faith" shown by Hoover officials to address concerns.

Iva Williams III, an adviser to the Birmingham Justice League, which led the protests in Hoover, said protesters and city officials sat down for a couple of hours Monday and reached “somewhat of an agreement” about numerous courses of action, including:

  • Setting up a citizens review board that can address complaints against the city
  • Making changes in the Police Department if a review by an outside and independent agency finds that police made poor procedural or ethical decisions regarding the shootings on Thanksgiving night
  • Putting the Police Department through an accreditation process to see how it stacks up with other police departments around the country
  • Considering having independent reviews of minority complaints regarding traffic stops in the city
  • Holding an annual diversity summit to address issues such as race relations and minority participation in contract work with the city
  • Supporting protesters’ calls for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to give prosecution authority related to the Thanksgiving night shootings back to Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr or Lynneice Washington, the district attorney for the Bessemer division of Jefferson County.
  • Offering a public apology to people offended by ugly and inflammatory comments made on social media and elsewhere toward the protesters
  • Resuming weekly updates about the investigation into the Thanksgiving shootings and/or progress on the above-mentioned items
  • Giving clemency to protesters for misdemeanor charges against them related to the protests

Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice confirmed Monday's meeting with Williams and said they were able to discuss several efforts under way as Hoover prepares to move forward in the wake of recent events.

"There was no agreement reached on any specific issue," Rice said. "Regarding clemency for protesters, this was one of the requests made; no offer of clemency was extended."

At least six protestors have been arrested on charges of misdemeanor crimes, such as disorderly conduct and loitering, since the protests began.

Protesters have maintained their protests have been peaceful and that they were exercising their constitutional rights, even though they have been chanting “no justice, no peace” and admitted before some of the protests that they were about to engage in “arrestable actions.”

Rice in the past has said the city would respect the rights of people to protest but would not allow protesters to injure other people, damage property or impede public safety by doing things such as blocking streets. Arrests have been made and charges filed when people crossed those lines, he said.

Williams said he was pleased that Hoover officials already were working on some of the protesters' concerns before protesters ever met with them.

“At this point, Hoover can’t do anything more to bring justice to this young man and to his family, but Hoover can bring a better sense of equity to all citizens, be it their own who live there and those who visit,” Williams said. “So we’re going to hold them to that.”

Carlos Chaverst Jr., president of the Justice League, said if Hoover doesn’t follow through, protests in Hoover will resume.

REDIRECTING FOCUS OF PROTESTS

The Justice League is not completely stopping its protests, Chaverst said; it is redirecting them to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which has taken over the investigation of the Galleria shootings, and to the attorney general, who has taken over any prosecutions related to the shootings.

Chaverst said they still want ALEA to release all of the videos connected to the shootings and for Marshall to turn prosecution authority back over to Carr or Washington.

Williams said people in Jefferson County expect the district attorney they elected to be able to handle cases here. “It’s almost like we didn’t have an election here in Jefferson County,” he said.

Marshall said Carr has acknowledged that fair-minded and objective people could conclude that his neutrality was compromised because of personal relationships Carr has with some of the leaders of the protests and because the police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a man at the Galleria is a material witness in at least 20 cases Carr’s office is prosecuting.

Ben Crump, an attorney for the family of the 21-year-old Hueytown man killed by a Hoover police officer, said Marshall’s decision to take over the case could undermine the trust the black community has in the judicial process.

Chaverst said protesters plan to protest at the offices and homes of Marshall and ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor.

Frank Matthews, a longtime Birmingham activist and adviser for the Justice League, said things could get out of control and turn uglier if the police officer is not charged.

Le’Darius Hilliard, vice president of the Justice League, there are people who have protested racial inequities in Baltimore, California and Ferguson, Missouri, who are ready to come to Alabama to protest here.

“They are still wanting to come, and we are still ready to fight,” Hilliard said. “If we don’t get justice, there will be no peace.”

ECONOMIC BOYCOTT OF HOOVER STILL ON

Chaverst noted that the protesters are still calling for a full economic boycott of businesses in the city of Hoover. “We’re asking black people and all other minorities — do not spend a dime in the city of Hoover,” he said.

They are especially upset with the decision by the owner or manager of the Riverchase Galleria to reopen the mall on Black Friday, just eight hours after Emantic “E.J.” Bradford Jr. was shot to death there.

“It was still warm on the ground from where he laid and where the blood was,” Williams said.

Hilliard said protesters consider their protests in Hoover to have been successful. Had they not invoked their First Amendment rights to protest, they never would have had the conversations they did with Hoover officials, he said.

Matthews said most of the Justice League leaders were not eager to call off the protests, but they are reluctantly in a compromising mode and sent their best negotiator to the table with Hoover.

He also said protesters want to hold a “peace and accountability march” around the Galleria on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Many people in the black community have been critical of how the protests have been conducted, so they’re going to give a more peaceful march a chance, he said. He encouraged “all the good black people and all the good white people that’s criticizing us to join with us.”

Williams reiterated that protesters are encouraged by the response they got from Brocato and Rice.

“At the end of the day, the whole reason we’re here is so that African-Americans, people of color, any minorities will be treated fairly and justly in the city of Hoover and anywhere else in this country,” he said.

This article was updated at 9:24 p.m. with City Administrator Allan Rice's comments.