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Subscribe] FinalCall.com News - Refer This Page National News MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (NNPA) - Making a point of the historical importance of barbershops and beauty parlors in Black communities, a group of barbers, church leaders and community activists across the Inland region and the nation want a federal probe of April raids targeting six mostly Black-owned Moreno Valley business establishments early. “We are demanding an immediate Justice Department full probe,” said Kevon Gordon, who has owned The Hair Shack since 1984. Mr. Gordon and other barbers say the raids violated 4th Amendment protections from unreasonable searches, undermined their businesses, targeted shop owners based on race and hurt the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology’s reputation. Barbers and patrons say a strike team of California Department of Consumer Affairs/Board of Barbering and Cosmetology inspectors, city code compliance inspectors and officers from the Moreno Valley Police Department/Riverside County Sheriff burst into establishments without search warrants under the guise of a crackdown on business license and health and safety violations. According to Barbering Board officials, Moreno Valley police initiated the raids “apparently to shut down drug operations.” At presstime, consumer affairs department officials and Moreno Valley city leaders had not responded to requests for reaction to the barbers’ demands. “My phone has been ringing off the hook. People are outraged,” said Mr. Gordon. The barbers targeted in the raids have been further humiliated by a police and city hall information blackout, he added. “When we called police and code compliance asking for an incident report, we were told ‘there isn’t one,’” Mr. Gordon said. Despite multiple requests for information from the three agencies, he and other barbers targeted in the raids have been “systematically denied” information, said Mr. Gordon said. Adding insult to injury, Mr. Gordon says several customers expressed concern about bringing loved ones to his shop. “My reputation and livelihood of 24 years has been damaged. Collectively we intend to fight back,” he vowed. Mr. Gordon said The Hair Shack located in a strip mall along busy Sunnymead Boulevard has no prior history of police trouble. “Incidents like this are not going to be tolerated anymore, and we’re going to speak out. This was an attack not just on African Americans, but all ethnic business establishments,” said Mr. Gordon, who added that he has contacted civil rights and American Civil Liberties Union attorneys. Mr. Gordon and barber Ron Jones were cited for what Barber Board inspectors call 11 “cleanliness” violations (towel drawers, comb, supply cabinets not labeled) plus a $1,500 fine. The operation—which included Hair Sculptures a beauty salon co-owned by Jackie Brazeau, who is a Latino—netted 2 arrests, 49 health and safety citations and failure to show an independent contractor’s business license, violations and $20,000 in fines. Barbers from 15 Black-owned area business establishments plan to meet to develop strategies they say will more than likely involve legal action, boycotts, and formal complaints to the Department of Justice, NAACP and ACLU. “It was a smack in the face that something like this could happen in Moreno Valley,” said veteran barber and business owner Ray Butler. Mr. Butler and his sister Fay, a barber for 30 years, are part of family owned Ray’s Barber and Beauty Hair Salon nestled in a strip mall less than a mile from Hair Shack. Mr. Butler, a barber for 53-years with active professional licenses in four states, wants a top-down probe. “People made decisions to unlawfully attack ‘us’ they should be brought to justice. Cosmetology inspectors fronting for police is virtually unheard of in any state,” he said. Moreno Valley barber Kevon Gordon said police raids undermined his business of 24 years, humiliated Black barbers and viciously attacked a bastion in the Black communities. “From Moreno Valley police officers to members of City Councils to ‘Lil Stevie Wonder and Motown music mogul Berry Gordy, I’ve left my mark on a many heads but this mess threatens to rock the entire industry,” he said. The Butlers, whose business was not raided, displayed a show of solidarity by taping a copy of the Black Voice newspaper article chronicling the raids on the shops’ front window. Word of the raids spread like wildfire. Across the nation barbers, activists and bloggers engaged in lively online debate. Mr. Gordon said barbers, law enforcement, church leaders, civil rights attorneys and patrons in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties have called with offers of assistance. Moreno Valley contracts police service from the Riverside County Sheriff Department. Spokesman Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said a request for a statement on the raids and reaction to the demand for an investigation had been passed on to the Sheriff Stanley Sniff for review. “This kind of affront sends up a red flag to young brothers like me who have worked hard to stay away from gangs and drugs in favor of legitimate practices. It sends the wrong message,” said Mr. Gordon, who admits his business has suffered financially since the raids. But, he said, the controversy has a silver lining, ‘It got barbers fired up. It brought us together. That’s good.’”
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