wfn.org | NCCCUSA HEAD JOAN CAMPBELL STATEMENT ON LOS ANGELES BEATINGS

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

37NCC4/4/96                   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATEMENT BY THE REV. DR. JOAN B. CAMPBELL ON THE
LOS ANGELES BEATINGS

The ecumenical community of faith represented by the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
USA is outraged at the brutal beatings of Andrian
Flores Martinez and Leticia Gonzalez-Gonzalez by
California sheriff's deputies on Monday.

The actions taken by police against Mr. Martinez and
Ms. Gonzalez-Gonzalez, who did not resist police
after a high-speed car chase, were unconscionable.
Videotape has once again revealed to the world the
abuse of authority and institutionalized violence
that immigrants, people of color and the poor live
with on a daily basis in so many of our communities.
Police officials must be held accountable for their
actions, and their actions must not be above the
law.  Police do have a job to do, but those who
administer the law must be responsible -- and by
their actions be deserving of respect.

The abuse of Mr. Martinez and Ms. Gonzalez-Gonzalez
is a clear manifestation of the anti-immigrant
backlash in the United States, not unrelated to
federal initiatives calling for a variety of
measures to combat illegal immigration to the United
States through fortified border enforcement.  Far
from focusing on the root causes of undocumented
immigration, political rhetoric has strongly
contributed to feelings in the public which lead to
acts of violence against immigrants, or other
individuals who "seem foreign."

Mr. Martinez and Ms. Gonzalez-Gonzalez, along with
21 others in a pick-up truck, were chased by police
who "suspected" them of being "illegal aliens" as
they ventured past a Border Patrol checkpoint.  When
they were caught, they were beaten in part because
they were suspected, although not yet proven to be,
undocumented.

If U.S. border enforcement includes clubbing men and
women with nightsticks and/or grabbing them by the
hair and shoving them to the ground when they are
not resisting, as was the case on Monday, it means
that our border enforcement policies are in staunch
violation of human rights and moral standards.

We strongly protest the ways in which law
enforcement officials are handling illegal
immigration to the U.S.  We urge federal, state and
local governments to take swift and thorough action
to change enforcement policies, which portray the
undocumented as "alien," somehow inhuman and worthy
of abuse.  We call for a federal investigation into
the Martinez and Gonzalez-Gonzalez matter and that
the officers involved are suspended from duty
without pay.

We must put an end to the pattern of violence and
racial abuse in this country.  Our faith compels us
to speak out when basic human rights are violated
and to uphold the value and dignity of each human
being - regardless of their legal status.

The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell
General Secretary, National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the U.S.A.
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