Black Police Officers Charge Mobile, Ala. With Racial Bias

Press Release
March 29, 1969

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- Press Releases
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- 9aefad64-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 6. Black Police Officers Charge Mobile, Ala. With Racial Bias, 1969. 9aefad64-b992-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/1e6ed574-706e-4023-9902-0709c2e60415/black-police-officers-charge-mobile-ala-with-racial-bias. Accessed October 08, 2025.

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    President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

AA PRESS RELEASE Siirector Cuno 
egal efense lund a Greenberg 

, Public Relations 

NAAGP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. DeVere, Je. 

10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 nicHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR RELEASE 

MARCH 29, 1969 

BLACK POLICE OFFICERS 

CHARGE MOBILE, ALA., 

WITH RACIAL BIAS 

LDF Attorneys Handling Case 

MOBILE---A group of 27 Negro police officers this week sued this 

city, its chief of police and police commissioners charging them 

with practices "which discriminate because of race." 

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court here. 

Thus Mobile became part of a drive against southern police 

department discrimination currently being handled by attorneys of 

the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) 

Similar suits have been brought in West Palm Beach and St. 

Petersburg, Fla. 

Black police officers in Mobile charge that: 

* they are not allowed to work in all divisions of the 

force 

* police patrol zones are gerrymandered according to race 

and Negro officers assigned only to Black communities 

* police officers are assigned to patrol car duty on 

basis of race 

* promotion possibilities are limited 

* Negro officers are allowed to administer only other 

Negro officers 

* employment and promotion tests are administered 

"arbitrarily and unfairly to discriminate against 

Negroes." 

The Black officers are seeking, through their LDF attorneys, 

a declaratory judgment saying the challenged practices are “null 

and void" and violate the U. S. Constitution. 

They also ask that the defendants be enjoined and that "affir- 

mative action to eradicate the effects of negative regulations 

and policies be taken." 

The case was brought by LDF attorneys Frankie L. Fields and 

Vernon Crawford of Mobile, and Jack Greenberg, Norman C. Amaker, 

Michael Meltsner and William L. Robinson of New York City. 

=30s 

NOTE: Though the LDF was once a part of the National Association 

for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) it now is a 

separate organization, even though the initials are retained 

in its title.

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Black Police Officers Charge Mobile, Ala. With Racial Bias

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