NAACP will hold town hall in Patterson on civil rights, hate crimes, fair housing
The NAACP and several other organizations are holding what they are calling a Unity in the Community Town Hall on Saturday in Patterson to address racial discrimination, hate crimes, civil rights and fair housing.
The event is free and will be held 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hammon Senior Center, 1033 W. Las Palmas Ave.
It will feature a panel discussion with Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse, a representative from the FBI and Andrea Lisbon, a civil rights expert and co-founder of Stand Up Speak Up Speak Out, said Wendy Byrd, president of the NAACP’s Modesto-Stanislaus branch.
Patterson contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for police services.
Byrd said she was awaiting confirmation from representatives from the U.S. attorney’s office as well as the state attorney general’s office and civil rights department whether they would participate in the panel. She said panelists would engage in a question-and-answer session with the public after the panel discussion.
The event “will give the sheriff, the FBI and other civil rights advocates a platform to explain what they do and how to access them should a person feel like they are in danger or need help,” Byrd said in an email to The Bee.
She said the NAACP, Project Sentinel, which helps people with housing discrimination and other housing issues, the Senior Advocacy Network and Invest in Me, a nonprofit that helps young women, will have information tables at the town hall.
Byrd said the NAACP has received six or seven complaints in the last year from Patterson residents — primarily Black people but also Latinos — of not feeling welcomed or comfortable. She said the residents moved to Patterson from the Bay Area in the last few years.
“The demographics of Patterson is changing,” she wrote in her email. “There is an influx of people of color moving into the Central Valley because housing has gotten so expensive in the Bay Area. ... We want to make sure that Stanislaus County is a welcoming county and if not, why?”
Patterson has nearly 24,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with 68.1% of them Latino. Non-Latino whites make up 19.8% of the city’s residents, and Black residents comprise 3.7% of residents.
She said the event will conclude with 30 minutes set aside for networking, refreshments and the opportunity for audience members to meet and talk with the panelists.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
