A Maryland Town Fires Its Black Police Chief, Exposing a Racial Rift

POCOMOKE CITY, Md. — Kelvin Sewell figured he had landed his dream job in 2010, when he retired as a Baltimore police officer to help run the tiny 16-member force in this little riverfront city, which calls itself “the friendliest town on the Eastern Shore.” A year later he became its first African-American police chief.

Blacks and whites have coexisted, sometimes uneasily, in Pocomoke for centuries, but Chief Sewell, with his easygoing manner, quickly fit in. He prodded officers to patrol on foot, pleasing business owners. He helped poor students fill out college applications. Crime, everyone agrees, went down on his watch.

But the chief’s abrupt dismissal in June, without explanation, by a white mayor and majority white City Council that voted along racial lines, has torn Pocomoke asunder, wrecking old friendships and exposing a deep racial rift in this community of roughly 4,100 people, split almost evenly between black and white.

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Publishers Notes: This New York Times article, (to me) seems somewhat unfair. It strongly suggests the issue at hand is a racial one, it is not. If they had found the right source they would have at least learned there is far more to this story then meets the eye. 

Now, I will say that probably no one will go on the record and or can give them first hand information and their job is to deliver the facts. However, suggesting it is a racial matter is not factual, it's suggestive and it  is the easy route. The article, (like most papers today) desperately goes after the wow factor. It suggests that the Town is still radical towards blacks and that it is run by whites. 

Well, blacks have every right to run for office and that has been proven in Princess Anne. It's a shame our Main Stream Media feels the need to continue a divide. No, there will not be a follow up story in the New York Times about WHY this Police Chief was let go when all is said and done. I can tell you however, there are numerous reasons for his dismissal and they are NOT racially motivated.

Finally, IF that were the case he would have never been chosen for the job, yet too many people dismiss that fact. They are stirring the national pot and continuing the racial divide in America and in my opinion is out of line. Let this run its course and let's stop the assumptions until due diligence is complete. 

from Salisbury News http://ift.tt/1VWCmS3