Visiting Iraqis Barred From Memphis City Hall
Seven Iraqi civic and community leaders received a less than warm welcome from the city of Memphis when they were prevented from entering Memphis City Hall after city council chairman Joe Brown feared that the group was a security threat. The Iraqis are on a State Department-sponsored tour of American cities to learn more about the workings of American government. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“We don’t know exactly what’s going on. Who knows about the delegation, and has the FBI been informed?” Brown said. “We must secure and protect all the employees in that building.”
Elisabeth Silverman, the group’s host and head of the Memphis Council for International Visitors, said Brown told her he would “evacuate the building and bring in the bomb squads” if the group entered.
Adding to the problem encountered in Memphis, two of the Iraqi visitors were robbed at gunpoint on Tuesday.
Memphis city officials issued an apology to the Iraqis yesterday.
I once knew a guy whose job had entailed visiting a number of cities throughout the southeast, more or less making P.R. visits for his employer, and he said that on both occasions visiting Memphis he was mugged within a couple blocks of his car after parking, and his unwillingness to return had something to do with his no longer holding that job.
Interesting: as I learned on blueoregon, the city councilor, Joe Brown, is involved with NAACP, among other similar organizations.
his bio from the city council website.
Further proof that the South sort of bites it.