Local activists Joe Lawrence and Clifton Lemelle lead protesters during a march held Monday.
Members of Louisiana chapters of the National Action Network, New Black Panthers and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as POWER, Inc. of Baton Rouge and the Foot Soldiers for Justice attended the march.
Community activist and retired teacher Clifton Lemelle led the march down Martin Luther King Drive to Maple Avenue, exhorting others to join in.
As the march traveled north on South Second Street, marchers shouted, “No Justice, No Peace!” and “What do we want?” “Justice!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” on their way to finish at Eunice City Hall, where their numbers had increased to over 40.
Police provided an escort.
At City Hall, the march gave way to speakers from the various organizations involved, urging a change in law enforcement leadership, in Eunice and elsewhere.
Local activist and local NAN president George Fisher said that he has heard from prisoners about abuses within the jail, overcrowding, lack of food and water, a lack of working toilets, and prisoners being deprived of needed medications and humiliated in front of their families by being held in a pink room.
“It comes from the chief being a very bad chief and most of his officers should be put in jail,” Fisher said.
Fisher said that NAN founder Reverend Al Sharpton is aware of unfolding events. “He has his eye on Eunice,” Fisher said.
The march grew out of an incident at a post-trail ride party at Club Escalade on June X, during which Dies closed the club down.
Dies said the party was overcrowded and had gotten out of hand; Fisher, who owns the club, said the shutdown was racially-motivated harassment.
Reverend Raymond Brown, affiliated with the New Black Panther movement, said “Dies is in total violation of civil and human rights,” adding that the purpose of the march was to bring attention to allegations of racial profiling of minorities in the community.
Brown said that Dies was “in cahoots” with certain judges, to ensure convictions and stiffer penalties for minorities.
“Mr. Dies, if you do not make this community safe and respect the people, we will organize our own militia and protect the community,” said Brown, who referred to Dies as a racist, said the Second Amendment guarantees the right to form a militia.
Ron Ceasar of POWER, Inc. said, “We’re putting the state of Louisiana on notice that it’s a new day.”
“We’re demanding his (Dies’) immediate resignation. If we don’t get that today, guess what? We’ll be back here tomorrow,” Ceasar said.
Ceasar said this isn’t just about the small group in attendance. “This is a community thing, and we all need to work together; black, white, red, brown, yellow. All of us.”
Lemelle noted the turnout was low, but pointed out that Jesus Christ started with only 12 disciples.
Lemelle urged the formation of a citizen’s committee to review police actions, and urged those dealing with police to never run away, and always take down the names of officers they deal with.
Pastor Ameal Jones, Sr., president of the Central Louisiana branch of the NAACP, said, “We are speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. Behind your bars are a community; our sons, our daughters, or nieces, or nephews; they are our brothers and sisters...it is our moral duty to respect the human cause.”
“We have allowed the Devil to take over our community,” Jones said, adding, “We’re putting the Devil on notice; we have come to tear your kingdom down.”
Dies observed the march from a distance, but left before it reached City Hall, saying he wished to ensure that marchers’ rights to free speech and assembly were not distrupted.
“Everyone has the same right to march in protest or in favor of something. People have a right to voice their opinion, and we’re going to make sure they have the opportunity to so,” Dies said, noting the police escort. “We treat everyone by the same rules. We treat them with respect. We’re here as a professional law enforcement, and we’re going to treat everyone with respect and dignity.”
Dies denied profiling minorities, saying most police action is in response to complaints received by the department, and traffic stops occur when officers see violations, regardless of the driver’s race.
Dies also denied allegations of abuse and mistreatment, saying prisoners are not denied food and water, and that a recent problem with the toilets was quickly fixed by the plumber.
Dies said the jail does get overcrowded at times, particularly on weekends, before prisoners can bond out or be transferred, but space is made available by using holding cells.
The alternative, Dies said, would be to put criminals back on the street.
It would seem to me that if they need food and Drink , you should concentrate on solving that problem first.. we don't want them to "Starve"!' Paaaaalease,,,,
If the white people went and protested about the Blacks , how do you think that would turn out? You would yell !!!! Discrimination!!!!!
I suggest you go and tell Your President that You Elected. You Know the one who has done so much for the Black People....... NOT ! in closing all I can say is ..... Freedom of Speech and the Second Amendment is for All People , not just the Blacks....
“HUH, REALLY”
Had these so called Community Leaders joined together in the election and selected a qualified candidate that had experience in Community Policing and internal knowledge of the workings of the police department, they would not be having these issues now. But instead they chose to divide the votes amongst a few THUGS who pretend to be for the community.
(Raymond Cole served this community for most of his adult life and the community as a whole turned on him, when it was time to return the gratitude).
If one is truly for the community he/she works together with families and police to deter such things as loitering in the parking lot and on public roadways in front of a club/bar to consume alcohol and/or conduct drug transactions. These people protesting, they do not care about the law abiding taxpaying citizen of Eunice. The protesters only care about publicity and thrive on the appearance of pressure, struggles and oppression. The protesters will never be happy, unless they are in charge of the streets, not the people elected b y the majority of the taxpaying citizens. However, the citizens of Eunice are smart enough to understand that these few protesters do not have the City of Eunice at heart
Criminals not only want to enjoy themselves when drinking, they want notoriety. That is why they choose to be on the streets shooting guns into the air or at each other and causing a disturbance. They want to be in the spotlight, and they want to be visible to everyone. That is publicity for the dope game. Criminals want notoriety; these are the ones that are in the streets, lurking in the dark at late hours.
If you, the protesters believe that things can be handled differently, then get the proper training and become a reserve officer if you qualify (no previous convictions).
I'm not a cop but it does not take one to understand that for the past several administrations we had the Good Old Boy Attitude enforcing laws that should had been enforced by Law Enforcement for a long time.
The criminal complaints that come into the department are handled by telephone and the callers are usually in the area affected by the criminal element.
So really any law abiding adult would be pleased with the job that the New and Improved Eunice Police Officers are doing. For some reason criminals have a strange concept that the police are only to enforce the law when the criminal is the victim.
Keep up the good work EPD.