By Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans, believes that Mayor Hodges is morally unfit for office and call for her not to be re-elected. She cleverly fired the white female Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau as a cover for her double standards that she will display during this particular case because it involves a foreign national, Officer Mohamed Noor, and a white woman, the deceased Justine Ruszczyk.
The National Black Church Initiative express our deepest condolences to Justine Ruszczyk’s family. You continue to be in our prayers and on our minds.
Rev. Anthony Evans President of the National Black Church Initiative says, “White mayors and white police chiefs are twin puppets of evil when it comes down to shootings. Theie motto is, they are protecting each other’s backs at any cost. Even to the lowering of the community’s cultural standards. This is why the Black Church must speak out, because the city fathers of Minneapolis, the heads of utilities, the largest insurance companies, the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trades and heads of the Lions and Rotary Clubs do not have the moral aptitude to see that their community is being dragged down with a person like Hodges at the head of it. I am urging all the citizens of good will, Black and White of Minneapolis, not to cast your vote for a racist, murderous police department and its mayor, Betsy Hodges.”
Mayor Hodges has displayed a double standard and presided over a racist police department that is guilty of murdering its own citizens. Between the death of Philando Castile and her carefully worded statement regarding his death, as well as the killing of Justine Ruszczyk there has been nothing happening within the cultural environment of the institution of the police department that would have prevented her death.
Simply put they continued with business as usual. It sent a very loud message to every officer, especially white officers, that the Minneapolis Police Department has their back and if anything happened they would get a financial parachute out of the deal. The last officer got $48,000.00 and was acquitted. This officer however, because of the deep racism of our society may get convicted simply because he did not shoot a ‘nigga’ he shot a white woman. Our society still suffers from a philosophical and racial double standard. Mayor Hodges is the chief cheerleader of that double standard. If she is willing to sacrifice her white female police chief she is willing to do anything to get re-elected therefore the Black Church concludes she is unethical and morally unfit to lead the citizens of Minneapolis.