It is every parent’s worst nightmare. It is every child’s worst nightmare. One month ago that nightmare came true right next door in Coffee County and it continues to this day.

Bianca Clayborne and Deonte Williams were driving from Atlanta to Chicago to attend a family funeral when Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled them over for tinted windows and “driving in the left lane while not actively passing,” something we all see every day of the week on Interstate 24.

Mr. Williams was arrested for possessing 5 grams of marijuana, a misdemeanor, and then the nightmare began. A sequence of events we are all still struggling to make sense of led to the family’s small children, including one nursing infant, being ripped from their mother’s arms and placed in state custody, where they still remain.

The Franklin County NAACP calls for the immediate release of the children and a full investigation of all departments and jurisdictions involved, in order to ensure this unimaginable horror can never happen to anyone ever again. 

Lisa Rung

President, Franklin County NAACP