Elenora Woods went back Wednesday morning to College Hill Courts, the public housing project where she grew up, and blamed the overnight quadruple shooting there and other recent Chattanooga violence on things such as “disinvestment” in the black community and a lack of opportunities for blacks.
“What you’re seeing with the murders is really a symptom of the problem,” said Woods, the new president of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Woods stood on the sidewalk in freezing winds with three other NAACP members and read a statement that mourned “this continued senseless loss of life,” questioned the effectiveness of Mayor Andy Berke’s Violence Reduction Initiative and faulted area police for arresting blacks at a higher rate than non blacks.
“We do not question Mayor Berke’s intent, but we do question the disparate impact the mayor’s policies are having on the African-American community,” Woods said. “Over a quarter of a million dollars was spent on an outside consultant. We flew police officers to New York, and we were sold on the idea that the VRI would work.
“We need to go back to the table, back to the drawing board,” she said.
Berke’s spokeswoman, Lacie Stone, replied in an email that, “The Chattanooga Police Department has worked closely with members of the community during the planning and implementation of Chattanooga VRI. This is an effort that includes a variety of community members, from area pastors to neighborhood leaders and service providers. We are always happy to discuss ways local organizations and community members can help to end violence in Chattanooga.”
Woods also feels blacks have been shortchanged in Chattanooga’s resurgence.
Tourism’s annual impact on Hamilton County’s economy is supposed to reach the $1 billion mark this year. Woods said that blacks are about one-third of the population, so “$333 million of that should have went to the black community.”
Woods, who is a dentist, said middle- and upper-income blacks are leaving Chattanooga for better opportunities.
“We feel as a community that we are not getting the contracts,” Woods said.
In the next few weeks, the NAACP will call for meetings with City Council members and community leaders to address its concerns, she said. The organization wants resources to develop and implement plans to address disparities with measurable objectives for policy changes based on data.
Woods said everyone, not just inner-city residents, should be concerned about crime and lack of opportunity because the impact of urban dysfunction spreads.
“Sooner or later, the crime is coming your way,” she said.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.