Last August, a community activist, Mike Noonan, called and urged me to come to a rally at the Claremont City Hall.  The rally was hosted by the Irvin Landrum Jr. Justice Organizing Committee.  It was a call that changed my life.
    Much has been written about the killing of Irvin Landrum Jr., an 18-year-old working father, shot last January by two members of the Claremont Police Department.  The more I learned about the case, the more I was convinced that the quest for justice was well justified.
    As a professor of Black Studies, I am aware of the historical connection between Black Studies and community affairs.  The original model for Black Studies, developed in the 1960s, was of a "communiversity," with self-conscious links between the university and the community.
    My involvement in this case was mandated by my role as a professor of Black Studies, and by a number of problems with the official documents of the city of Claremont, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the L.A. County District Attorney's Office.
    Paramount among them is the fact that, although the officers reported that they saw a "muzzle flash" and "heard a gunshot," the gun found at Irvin's feet had not been fired and bore no fingerprints.  Although the officers clearly stated that they did not draw and fire on Irvin until they were sure that he was armed and dangerous (by virtue of the muzzle flash and sound of a gunshot), the district attorney's report dismissed their statement and theorized that the muzzle flash that they thought came from Irvin's gun was actually their own muzzle flash that reflected in the darkness.
    The testimony of an eye-witness to the shooting sharply contradicted the police officers' accounts--including the date and time of the shooting--but this critical testimony has been discredited or ignored.  The officers stated that Irvin lifted his sweater with his left hand, and reached across his body with his right hand to pull the gun from his waistband.  Holding his right hand out, he allegedly fired on the officers.  The problem with this scenario is that Irvin was left-handed.
    I have devoted the past several months to helping the search for the truth about Irvin's killing.  Had I believed that Irvin did, in fact, shoot at a police officer and thereby invited a lethal retaliation, then I would have assisted the family in managing their grief and getting on with their lives.  But the inconsistencies in the reports suggested that Irvin was an innocent victim of an unjustified and unprovoked police shooting.
    I and others have merely exercised our freedom of speech in criticizing the official reports that contained glaring errors, half-truths and unbelievable elements.
    With actions chillingly reminiscent of McCarthyism, Claremont has gone overboard to silence our protest.  One such effort involved the investigation into the criminal background of one of the organizers, and the release of that background--despite the most recent conviction occurring nearly 20 years ago--to discourage people from associating with the organizing committee.
    The 20-year-old arrest record of one proponent for justice can hardly be relevant to whether the Claremont police officers were justified in taking the life of Irvin Landrum Jr.
    A second effort has been the publishing of letters by the president of the Claremont Police Management Association and the mayor of Claremont asking the presidents of the Claremont Colleges to review and censure the professors who are involved with the organizing committee.
    Some of the language in these letters was quite defamatory, calling the professors "uninformed," "prejudicial" and engaging in "bigotry."  This threat to our livelihood and our freedom of speech heightens our resolve to get to the truth of the killing of Irvin Landrum Jr.  If Irvin invited his execution, then the truth of what happened Jan. 11, 1999, should suffice to make the Police Department's case.  But if the city finds it necessary to threaten and humiliate the voices for justice, then it proves to us that their case is on very slippery ground and that our quest for justice is sound.

Halford H. Fairchild, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology and Black STudies at Pitzer College. He is Chairman of the Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies of the Claremont Colleges.  He may be reached at E2e4mate@aol.com or Hfairchild@pitzer.edu.