BUFFALO, N.Y. -- About a half-dozen protesters were arrested in front of the Erie County Holding Center Wednesday as they called out Sheriff Tim Howard for his track record over the last decade.
The group is called SURJ — Showing Up for Racial Justice Action — and is comprised of Caucasians who believe Sheriff Howard has proven himself to be a racist. SURJ says it's deeply disturbed by Howard's recent participation in uniform in the "Spirit of America Rally" that they say was attended by white supremacists.
They say though African Americans only make up just 14 percent of the county's population, they account for 42 percent of the arrests.
"We know white people do drugs at higher rates than African Americans do and yet, rather than sticking up for the people of Erie County, he is instead headlining rallies where people are waving Confederate flags and waving around neo-Nazi propaganda," said Sarah Buckley, Showing Up for Racial Justice Action organizer. "That's where his priorities are. So we've given him a chance. It's been over a decade."
SURJ also wants Howard to be held accountable for the 26 deaths that have happened at the Erie County Holding Center since 2005.
"We recently found out that suicide attempts are classified as individual inmate disturbances," said Lou DeJesus, founding member of the Buffalo Anti-Racism Coalition. "That's just unacceptable and now that there's an election coming up, we want to make sure that people know that we can do better, we have to do better, he has to go."
The DOJ issued a ruling in 2009, finding the Holding Center failed to protect inmates from serious harm, like suicide. The county then agreed to change the way it screens and supervises inmates.