![]() Byrd’s relatives, said they feared speaking out against bias in Jasper and in support of Mr. Several black residents, including one of Mr. Bledsoe and black leaders in Jasper said the segregated cemetery was one example of the ways in which many here perpetuate a hostile racial attitude. “Clearly he’s been the victim of a lynch-mob mentality in the area,” Mr. Bledsoe, president of the Texas N.A.A.C.P., has asked the United States Department of Justice to monitor race relations in Jasper and is preparing to request that authorities in Washington withhold federal financing to Jasper because of what he called racial discrimination in the firing of Mr. Berry, one of the three men convicted of murdering Mr. Hopson, one of the new council members, was related by marriage to Shawn A. Pearson, then a state trooper, was the first law enforcement officer at the scene of Mr. Byrd’s death and Jasper’s struggle to heal from it have been in the background. Pearson, who is white and who did not work for the city, said she believed her firing was due in part to the controversy over her husband. ![]() Pearson was fired, his wife, Sandy, was fired from her job as an officemanager. Two white business owners who supported the recall effort used a racial slur at a City Council meeting and on Facebook they later apologized. Hall to sergeant and brought in a new captain, angering the mayor.īut racial animosity often came to the surface. Hall, the police captain, to be named police chief, but the majority-black council rejected the mayor’s recommendation and selected Mr. Pearson’s hiring was a small-town political power struggle. McMillon said he believed the decision to hire him did. ![]() Pearson stemmed from what they saw as his lackluster performance as police chief, and that firing him had nothing to do with race, though Mr. Three white council members - Mitch McMillon, Randy Sayers and Raymond Hopson - said their votes to fire Mr. Pearson and his supporters had unfairly labeled criticism of him as racist, and that Jasper - 45 percent white and 44 percent black, according to the 2010 census - had had a long history of black leadership, including R. Pearson said their concerns had never been about race, but about his failure in his employment application to disclose bad checks he had written, including one that led to a 1990 misdemeanor arrest. Lout, who in May retained his seat after surviving a recall election, did not respond to requests for comment. It has nothing to do with qualifications.”
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