Groups seek Bizzell's resignation

A coalition of advocacy groups for Hispanics and other minorities today asked for the resignation of Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell over his derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants.

Leaders of the groups sent a letter to the Johnston County commissioners, asking them to seek Bizzell's resignation. Bizzells remarks raise doubts about his ability to enforce the law fairly, without regard to race, ethnicity or national origin, the letter says.

"Sheriff Bizzell's behavior is an embarrassment to our great state," the letter says.

"These remarks are evidence of deep racial and ethnic hostility in the sheriff's own personal beliefs, as well as an indication that racial prejudice is alive and well in the community in which he operates and makes such comments so freely."

Representatives of El Pueblo Inc., North Carolina NAACP, North Carolina Justice Center, Black Workers for Justice and Latino Community Credit Union, among others, signed the letter.

Tony Asion, executive director of El Pueblo.

"It is the duty of a law enforcement officer to enforce the law and protect all within a community equally," Tony Asion, executive director of El Pueblo, said in a statement, "and when that responsibility is tainted by personal biases against a group of people, then the effectiveness of how well they can protect and serve everyone is obstructed and placed at risk."

Bizzell's called Mexicans "trashy" and said they "breed like rabbits," among other comments published recently in The News & Observer. He subsequently apologized for the remarks.