title:  ‘This Is A Nightmare’: AL City’s Black Residents Live In Fear Under ‘Confederate Commander’ Police Chief
text: The black residents of Dothan, Alabama are, quite literally, living in fear   and with good reason. Their police chief, Steven Parrish, is an open member of a neo- Confederate organization by the name of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Even worse is the fact that officials in Dothan are fully behind Parrish keeping his job as police chief, despite his ties to a clearly racist organization.During a Tuesday government meeting, Dothan Mayor Schmitz allowed just one person in support of Parrish and one against him to speak. Paul Carroll, one of Dothan s black residents, said to the meeting: This would never happen to the Jewish community. You would never see someone who s a neo-Nazi being made chief of police, but somehow we as the black community are supposed to accept that we have a neo-Confederate? Carroll also said to local paper the Dothan Eagle: We are supposed to accept that we are supposed to put our trust and our faith in someone who has those connections? I don t (feel safe). Sometimes when you have had a life of white privilege it is very difficult for you to understand what it is like to be a minority. And Carroll has good reason to feel that way, as Parrish openly says he is a Sons of Confederate Veterans  Commander.  So, it s not good enough to just be a regular member of a seriously racist organization, but he has to be a commander. It is also believed (but not proven) that Parrish was in cohoots with narcotics cops who deliberately planted drugs on black men in the area during his time on the force.Another of the city s black residents, Ruth Nelson, says of Parrish s reign as chief: This is a nightmare. And when we look at the real underlying problems that are causing this..they need to be addressed and they need to be addressed with equality and with truth. Resident Kevin Saffold alluded to the idea that the city of Dothan would soon be in an uproar if the Parrish situation weren t handled to their satisfaction: If you don t want this to be another Ferguson, if you don t want civil unrest, if you don t want people taking matters in their own hands and not being cooperative, then you should do something about that. I believe in the court system and I believe in justice   I don t see no reason why the board should not at least demote him to some other field. All of these residents are right, and they have every right to be outraged and afraid. After all, there will be no justice for minorities as long as the police department is headed up by this racist POS.Featured image via screen capture from Raw Story