New Hanover County commissioners voted Monday to support Arizona’s latest immigration law. The Wilmington Star News reports one commissioner who voted against the resolution said personal experience led to his vote
Jonathan Barfield, vice chairman of the commissioners and the lone member who is black, cited numerous examples involving himself and his family members who had been stopped in Wilmington for no reason other than the color of their skin, a phenomenon known as “Driving While Black.”
“You will have folks be pulled over for the simple fact of what they look like,” said the board’s lone Democrat before the vote. “I cannot support this bill as it’s written. … I know what I have experienced here in New Hanover County.”
County Commissioner Bobby Greer, who introduced the resolution, said he wanted to pass the measure because Gaston County had already endorsed the Arizona bill and had asked for other counties’ support.
A spokesman for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners says he knows of no other counties passing similar resolutions. Todd McGee says the association has not taken a position on the Arizona law.
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