Anti-Muslim Post Stings Alabama Power
Tens of thousands of social media readers in the past 48 hours have read about the cop son of a now retired Alabama Power executive and the cop’s Anti-Muslim post.
The cop, Jeffrey Bowers of the Columbiana, Alabama Police Department, allegedly was involved in a “staged arrest” of Burt Newsome, who was allegedly targeted by Alabama Power’s sister-wife, the embattled law firm Balch and Bingham.
Causing outrage is Bowers’ vulgar social media post suggesting Muslims are goat fornicators.
The Culture of Hate linked to Alabama Power is stinging the utility and especially Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch partner.
And Lt. Bowers is not the only cop under fire right now for Anti-Muslim posts.
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported:
A tweet posted on the Fontana Police Department’s official Twitter account that called a Muslim American politician “un-American” had tongues wagging this week.
Fontana police quickly countered after being alerted of the post: “This is an embarrassment to the Fontana Police Department,” officials said in a statement. “This careless act does not reflect the values of the men and women that honorably serve our community.”
Ironically, over 16 years ago, we, the CDLU, trained all 170 police officers of the Fontana, California Police Department about understanding the Latino culture after our investigation from 2002 showed blatant discrimination, and alleged acts of excessive force and police brutality against Latino residents in the city.
We served as a bridge between the Latino community and police department. In 2003, at our urging, the Fontana police chief held a first-ever community meeting with Latinos and had every single policing procedure and policy reviewed by independent experts, while we, the CDLU, did a mass bilingual mailing to over 10,000 residents in Fontana encouraging them to respect and understand law enforcement, and informing them how to report cases of alleged misconduct.
Fontana has dealt with issues of discrimination swiftly and diligently.
Alabama Power should now move beyond Balch’s and Bowers’ foolishness.
Crosswhite needs to lead, and deal with Balch & Bingham’s embarrassing conduct swiftly and diligently. Tens of thousands are waiting and watching.
