'THERE CAN BE NO HEALING WITHOUT ANSWERS'

Leaders Want Deputy's Name, Again Ask Sheriff To 'Step Aside'

Edward DuBose, the Columbus Branch NAACP president, is calling again
for answers into the Kenneth B. Walker shooting so healing can begin.

"We urge ministers, business and community leaders, black and white,
who say that it's time to heal, to take a stronger stance in demanding
answers from the sheriff's department," DuBose said during a Monday
press conference. "There can be no healing without answers. There can
be no healing without justice."

Walker was fatally shot Dec. 10 by a Muscogee County sheriff's deputy
during a traffic stop of a vehicle suspected of having armed drug
traffickers inside. Walker and three others were pulled from the
vehicle. No drugs or weapons were found.

DuBose read from a statement in front of the NAACP office on First
Avenue. Antonio Carter, local National Action Network president, and
Michael Muhammad, local Nation of Islam leader, stood behind DuBose.
The men were flanked by a dozen representatives of the NAACP, NAN and
the Nation of Islam.

DuBose asked again for the name of the deputy involved in the
shooting, the tape of the incident to be released and Muscogee County
Sheriff Ralph Johnson to "step aside" so "someone else can lead the
sheriff's department."

"Nineteen days after the death of Kenneth Walker there are still no
answers from law enforcement or those investigating this case," DuBose
said. "Nineteen days after the death of Kenneth Walker the name of the
sheriff deputy and the videotape of the incident are still being kept
from the community."

When asked for comment, Johnson said he will release the deputy's name
in time. "And I certainly don't intend on resigning," Johnson said.

The Columbus Branch NAACP, the Georgia State Conference of NAACP units
and the local NAN chapter will hold a public hearing on Jan. 21 to
look into local "law enforcement misconduct, profiling and brutality."
The hearing will be at the Liberty Theatre Cultural Center at 6 p.m.

"We are extremely concerned about the circumstances surrounding the
Kenneth Walker shooting as well as the lack of information being
provided to the public," DuBose said. "While we remain concerned about
the Kenneth Walker shooting, there is even a greater concern that the
attitude of law enforcement in this case reflects a pattern of past
misconduct, as well as profiling in the African-American community."

DuBose cited recent intrusions of African-American churches during
worship service, the mistaken arrest of a black minister and the Dec.
24, 2002, shooting death of Derrick Howard. "Healing will never happen
in the African-American community until the truth prevails," DuBose
said.