A Triangle group that wants to reduce the number of black and Hispanic young people going to prison is weighing in on a controversy over remarks by the mayor of Charlotte.
The Triangle Lost Generation Task Force issued a statement today saying it was "gravely concerned about the insight and foreshadowing" of Mayor Pat McCrory's comments on African-American youths and street gangs.
McCrory's comments came July 5 in a letter to the city manager congratulating police on their efforts the night before, when 169 people were arrested during a 4th of July event. McCrory wrote that "too many of our youth, primarily African American, are imitating and/or participating in a gangster type of dress, attitude, behavior and action," The Charlotte Observer reported.
Read more after the jump.
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The Triangle group said McCrory may have relied on a report indicating that 60 percent of Charlotte's gang members are black. But some national reports indicate that blacks are disproportionately perceived as being gang members, the group noted.
McCrory's comments associated race and clothing with criminal activity attributed to gangs, the Triangle Task Force said in its statement.
The Charlotte branch of the NAACP has called McCrory's remarks "insensitive" and asked him to apologize. McCrory has refused, saying his comments were accurate.
The Triangle Task Force said Charlotte police have been "some of the most vocal supporters" of a bill aimed at street gangs.
The Triangle group's executive director, Landon Adams, has criticized the bill. Adams has told legislators that the bill emphasizes "suppression" over prevention and intervention. He said it would increase incarceration rates for blacks and Latinos.
