The initiative, which was authorized by Congress in 2006, states on its website that it “is a unique, creative, and highly successful, initiative that encourages persons wanted for non-violent felony or misdemeanor crimes to voluntarily surrender to the law in a faith-based or other neutral setting”

Last week (Sept. 18-19), dozens of people showed up at the church before the event’s 9:00 A.M. opening, in hopes of having their slates cleaned by law enforcement, which included district attorneys and judges who were on hand to participate in the event as well. Only after confessing their crimes were the predominantly Black participants then subject to “favorable consideration for surrendering” by the law enforcement officials on hand.

According to News 2 (WKRN in Nashville), close to 30 people had come close to surrender, with half of them doing so within the first 30 minutes of the event…and this all occurred on the first day of a two day event. Dr. William Harris, pastor of the Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, said that 563 people turned themselves in during 2007’s Fugitive Safe Surrender program. Law enforcement also highly encouraged individuals to turn in any firearms and drugs that they may have in their possession as well.

What’s interesting about this story is that Black churches will eagerly participate in initiatives such as Fugitive Safe Surrender where many more Melanoid people find themselves being railroaded into incarceration, yet refuse having anything to do with addressing the roots of Black Society’s issue (among a plethora of other issues) of mass incarceration in the first place.

Not only were people encouraged to turn themselves in, they were also compensated for doing so. The reward you ask? A $10 gift card to a local gas station (Mapco).

Here is a link to the original story.

B. Clark

After an email was released from Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini that linked last week’s Charleston killings to a 1940 murder of a West Tennessee NAACP activist, her Republican counterparts vehemently denied any overt racism that occurred in the state. Republican Party chairman Ryan Haynes accused her of looking to raise funds from the unfortunate incident. “They’re trying to profit from a horrific situation. That is inappropriate in every sense of the word,” Haynes said. “It’s disrespectful to a community that is still living this horror. It is highly disrespectful to those who lost their lives last Wednesday night in Charleston.”

Mancini’s actions aren’t the only issue here. Republicans and Democrats are currently in opposition over the possible removal of the bust of former Confederate Army General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state capital building. U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and state House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, are both calling for the removal of the bust of the Klan leader, stating that it has ‘no place in the Tennessee statehouse.’

The white supremacist general, who massacred 300 Melanoid soldiers during the Civil War, and served as the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, has had a bust statue in his honor located in the Tennessee state capital building since 1978.