The North Carolina office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a racist text message thread involving officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).
Recent internal affairs and state investigations uncovered a multi-year text thread in which officers allegedly engaged in discriminatory banter, including racist remarks and a reported competition to target and pull over Black drivers. Thus far, three officers have resigned, and an independent chain-of-command review board has unanimously recommended the termination of three additional officers pending final Civil Service Board reviews.
Community advocates and civil rights leaders have emphasized that such systemic bias within law enforcement poses an immediate threat to public safety and civil rights.
In a statement, CAIR North Carolina Regional Community Engagement Manager Al Rieder said:
“We stand in solidarity with the Black community of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and all local residents in demanding swift structural accountability, thorough institutional reforms, and a judicial review of all compromised cases to ensure justice and civil rights are upheld for all members of the community.”
CAIR and the American Muslim community stand in solidarity with all those challenging antisemitism, systemic anti-Black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]