FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
KL Shannon
Seattle/King County NAACP
(206) 854-5462
klorganizer@yahoo.com

NAACP Holds Public Hearing on Police Accountability in Rainier Beach
featuring Cynthia McKinney

Seattle, WA, June 4, 2008 – The Seattle/King County Branch of the NAACP will hold a public hearing on police accountability next week in Rainier Beach. The hearing is part of an ongoing effort to collect citizen testimony of their experiences with law enforcement. Former Congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will speak on police accountability and her work as a public policy advocate.

In March of this year, the NAACP formed the People’s Panel on Police Accountability, a diverse team of community members charged with assessing citizen concerns of police misconduct and the disparate treatment of people of color and the poor. The public hearings are designed for individuals to present testimony on their personal experiences with law enforcement. These stories will be used to compile a holistic, community-centered assessment of practices of police misconduct throughout Seattle and south King County, and to foster a collective call for police accountability.

The Rainier Beach hearing will be held on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the Rainier Beach Community Center, 8824 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle. Co-sponsors for this event are the American Friends Service Committee, the Coalition to Undo Racism Everywhere and Village of Hope. We are pleased to have Cynthia McKinney speak at the hearing. McKinney has been at the forefront of work for police accountability, supporting the Right of Return for the Internally Displaced from the Gulf Coast and advocating for policy to address the racial disparities in wealth, income and opportunities.

Hearings were held in the Central District, Kent and Des Moines. Subsequent hearings will be held in West Seattle (June 26th, Freedom Missionary Church of Seattle, 9601 35th Avenue SW, Seattle) and the University District (American Friends Service Committee, 814 NE 40th Street, Seattle).