July 6, 2017
The Honorable James D. Tierney
Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico
U.S. Department of Justice
Dear Honorable James Tierney,
I am writing this letter on behalf of Sankofa Men’s Leadership Exchange. We would
like to address with an action conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In 2016 this operation targeted a
largely minority sweep of Southeast Albuquerque. Here are some of the findings by
journalist Jeff Proctor, that exposed disparate numbers in an article dated June 27,
2017:
• During this sting operation 28 of 103 defendants were African Americans.
This is 27% in a city with a 3.3 Black population.
• Between 2006 and 2015 African Americans represented 5% of defendants in
drug and gun crimes charged in federal court in New Mexico.
• Some of the ATF agents who descended on Albuquerque for the sting also
oversaw or participated in operations in other cities that have drawn
allegations of racial profiling criticism in government reports and the ire of
federal judges.
We have several questions about how the Black community was targeted in this ATF
sting, such as: Who were the individuals with “Political Power”, as stated in Mr
Proctor’s report that asked Special Agent Russell Johnson to come to Albuquerque
because of its soaring crime rate? And, what resources were used to target the 28
African Americans?
Accordingly, we are officially requesting a meeting with the United States Justice
Department regarding this matter. Additionally, we look forward to meeting with you
to discuss these concerns in more detail. Please respond to this letter by contacting
our organization President, Patrick Barrett, with your available times to meet. Mr.
Barrett’s information is patrickbarrett74@gmail.com and his number is 505-9486566. Communication by emails is preferred.
In closing, this matter is of the utmost importance to the Black community in
Albuquerque. Our community here is small, and has been traditionally targeted by
law enforcement and marginalized in the public school system. Due to the small
numbers of the African Americans in New Mexico, every time we raise concerns that
impact our community we are given a standard answer by every governmental
entity we encounter: “There just is not enough data to make any conclusion as to
whether discrimination is occurring.” Thus, rendering our community “statistically
insignificant”. One need not look past the DOJ v. Albuquerque matter when
numbers were presented to the DOJ concerning African Americans killed in police
shootings. The response was essentially, “APD has an excessive force problem, not a
racial discrimination problem”--despite a showing a disparate impact regarding
police shootings involving African Americans. See United States v. City of
Albuquerque, 14-cv-1025. RB/SMV (D.N.M.) [Doc.71, p.101]. As you can image, with

 such small numbers, when our community was targeted, and 28 arrests were made,
it sent shockwaves through our community.
We thank you in advance for your attention to this matter
Sincerely,
Sankofa Men’s Leadership Exchange