Civil rights groups are demanding changes in San Jose city and law enforcement policies after a police officer was dismissed over racist texts.
A coalition led by the NAACP's South Bay chapter, police watchdog groups, and a public defender said their anger and frustrations have been brewing for years.
A fuse was lit in 2022 when a young Black man, K'uan Green, was shot four times outside the La Victoria Taqueria in San Jose when officer Mark McNamara responded to a brawl inside the restaurant. It turned out Green had broken up the fight inside and taken a gun from an attacker.
But while McNamara appeared remorseful at the time, he was let go by the police department last week when an internal affairs investigation turned up racist texts that included mocking Green and "hating Black people."
The community groups want the city to accept all of Green's civil lawsuit demands, and want McNamara to be held more accountable including decertification, so he can never again be a police officer.
"Are you more interested in protecting an institution or are you more interested in protecting our society? That is the question they must answer," Green's attorney Adante Pointer said. "And we're not going to listen to what you say. We're going to watch what they do."
Silicon Valley De-Bug wants city police funding suspended.
"What they could do today is withdraw all of their requests for more funding to police in the wake of this scandal," said Raj Jayadev, Silicon Valley De-Bug director.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
A racial justice specialist for the public defender's office said there needs to be justice for those who McNamara may have wronged as a cop.
"We would like to see every case that ex-officer McNamara has touched dismissed," said Karina Alvarez, a racial justice attorney. "We'd like to see every single case he was involved, and tainted frankly, dismissed."
Reaction has been fast, but limited.
San Jose police Chief Anthony Mata, who the group acknowledged took quick actions, said in a statement he agreed with the NAACP that McNamara should not be a police officer in any other community.
The sentiment was echoed by the San Jose Police Officers Association and Mayor Matt Mahan, who also added defunding would mean residents would have no one to call in a moment of crisis.
"It would disintegrate trust and make our city unsafe," Mahan said.
The district attorney also said McNamara's cases will be reviewed.
At this point, the community groups said they are still skeptical and want the names of other officers who received McNamara's texts.
