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Clergy to North Miami Beach Police: #UseMeInstead for Target Practice

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Last week Florida’s North Miami Beach Police made national news when their city council banned the force from using pictures of black men for target practice. This was in response to a National Guard member finding a mugshot of her brother, as well as several other black males, in a gun range’s trash can last month laced with bullet holes.

Dozens of angry citizens called for the police chief’s resignation at the council meeting reviewing the practice. The council voted to permanently prohibit the use of mug shots for target practice and to review police policies. North Miami Beach Mayor George Vallejo referred to the ban saying:

We need to make a statement at this level, as the elected representatives of this city, that that practice is unacceptable.

The photo found was not a new one. The mugshot of Woody Deant, the brother of the Guard member who found the photo, was from 15 years ago. According to the Miami Herald, the police chief stated this is hardly a new occurrence:

This was a training program that had been going on long before I was here and when I found out about it, I ceased it.

In true social media activism fashion, some members of the clergy have taken to Twitter to protest the police practice using #usemeinstead. According to the The Washington Post, the idea originated on a closed Facebook group for Lutheran clergy, where pastors were discussing the controversy surrounding the North Miami Beach’s police department. These heartstring-tugging tweets attempt to make it harder for police to pull the trigger.

The hashtag, which has frequently been used in conjunction with #BlackLivesMatter, has acted as a call to arms for people from all walks of life. Rev. Kris Totzke of Texas told the Post.

We initially started thinking, if a whole lot of us, in our clergy collar and worship attire, sent our photos to them, it would make a really powerful statement. Then it really snowballed, and we got people all over the country and of all different faiths.

Rev. Joy M. Gonnerman, another pastor who helped organize the hashtag, also told the Post she has a stack of photos (of mostly white pastors) who are helping to serve as allies in the protest of this practice. According to Gonnerman, she plans to mail these photos to the North Miami Beach Police Department over the weekend.

This controversy couldn’t have come at worse time, after the recent protested police shootings of black males such as Michael Brown and Tamir Rice. Using any person’s picture for shooting practice, regardless of race, is already horrible. The fact that it was black male images being used only continues to strain race relations as people’s confidence with law enforcement dwindles.

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Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.
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