Victor Hill, Black Sheriff of Clayton County, Ga. Fires Staff Allegedly on Basis of Race, Gender, and Politics, Deploys Snipers

Story dated 11 January 2005

Victor Hill is the first black man to have been elected sheriff in Clayton County. His first order of business was to fire department employees, including deputies, corrections officers, and supervisors. Most, but not all of those fired were white. Race and gender bias is alleged, but "the defining issue seems to be whether they supported his opponent." I bring this up because if he had been white and most of the fired had been black, racism would automatically have been alleged as the defining issue -- and indeed, according to an AP article that ran in the Tallahassee Democrat, "the fired sheriff's employees included four of the highest-ranking officers, all of them white. Hill told the newspaper their replacements would be black." If Victor Hill was white, and was replacing black officers, racism would likely be assumed to be his primary motive -- even if the officers he fired were incompetent, and their very competent replacement all happened to be white. If we live in a truly equal society, why is this black man not treated with the same scrutiny as a white man would be? Those fired had been loyal to the prior sheriff and were summoned to the jailhouse where no weapons were allowed. When they were fired, the employees had to turn in their badges, their weapons, and their vehicles. They were offered rides home in prisoner vans while snipers watched from the roof. Hill claims that all of this was done for his safety. I think an argument could just as easily be made that he did this to put his opponents' supporters in their place by intimidating and humiliating them professionally.
--------- Black sheriff jolts county near Atlanta, He defends the ouster of 27 in department, claiming he has the right to clean house
---------Georgia Sheriff Faces Federal Lawsuit
---------Sheriff who deployed snipers while firing employees ordered to rehire them
---------Sheriff who deployed snipers while firing employees ordered to rehire them
---------New Georgia sheriff rebuffed in court
---------Down South, sheriff comes in with an ax: Firings divide a Georgia town
---------Clayton County Sheriff's Office

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 3:05 PM

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