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The Asheville Police Department Suffers Another Blow In Race Relations

WUNC | By Dana Terry,
Anita Rao
Published July 17, 2018 at 12:39 PM EDT
Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper is cleaning house after the beating and choking of a black jay walker. APD has suffered a potential setback as news breaks that the department was monitoring local civil rights groups.
Osajus
/
Flickr Creative Commons
Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper is cleaning house after the beating and choking of a black jay walker. APD has suffered a potential setback as news breaks that the department was monitoring local civil rights groups.

 

Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper is cleaning house after the beating and choking of a black jay walker. APD has suffered a potential setback as news breaks that the department was monitoring local civil rights groups.
Osajus
Asheville Police Chief Tammy Hooper is cleaning house after the beating and choking of a black jay walker. APD has suffered a potential setback as news breaks that the department was monitoring local civil rights groups.

Yesterday, the Asheville Citizen Times revealed the Asheville Police Department has been followinglocal civil rights group since the shooting of Jai “Jerry” Williams two years ago.

Guest host Anita Rao talks with Asheville Citizen Times reporter Joel Burgess about his investigative report that the Asheville Police Department has been monitoring local civil rights group since the shooting of Jai “Jerry” Williams two years ago.

According to reporter Joel Burgess’ investigation, APD Chief Tammy Hooper authorized the monitoring of Black Lives Matter and Showing Up For Racial Justice after the groups allegedly made threats against police. Community activists claim they made no threats and that this is an intimidation tactic.  This is yet another strike in the strained relations between blacks and APD that escalated again this past winter when leaked video showed officers beating and choking an African-American man who was accused of jaywalking. Burgess broke both stories. He joins guest host Anita Rao with his latest report.

 

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio
Local News
Dana Terry
Dana is an award-winning producer who began as a personality at Rock 92. Once she started creating content for morning shows, she developed a love for producing. Dana has written and produced for local and syndicated commercial radio for over a decade. WUNC is her debut into public radio and she’s excited to tell deeper, richer stories.
See stories by Dana Terry
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao