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Frustrated Police, Black Leaders Seek Answers After Shootings
July 19, 2016
In the aftermath of fatal attacks on police in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., black leaders say Florida — which has a long and ugly history of racism — has reached a race-relations crossroads.
Meanwhile, one sheriff says the African-American community needs to “mature” as law enforcement officials seek to keep a lid on the violence that has erupted in other states.
Race relations in Florida, where lynchings of black men were once almost commonplace, have reached a low point as a result of a growing distrust — and outright fear — of law enforcement officers, black leaders told The News Service of Florida in a series of telephone interviews Monday.
The tension is fed by videos documenting black men sitting in their cars or crossing the street — some of them unarmed — being shot dead by police across the country.
“I have not seen the kind of anger and agitation and unrest and paranoia and frustration across the board that I see now,” the Rev. R.B. Holmes, pastor of Tallahassee’s Bethel Missionary Baptist Church said.
Florida sheriffs are reaching out to leaders in the black community while also taking additional measures to beef up protection for their own.
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, a former state representative who was a Miami-Dade County police officer during race riots that engulfed urban Miami in 1980, said he is exploring the purchase of “tactical rifles” for all of his deputies and holding training sessions with local businesses and schools, if requested.
Snyder met recently with a dozen black leaders, will hold a town hall meeting later in the week in a largely African-American neighborhood and is taking to social media to address concerns, he said.
But he also blamed black activists for contributing to the tension.
“I could be politically correct and say yes, we have to continue the dialogue, which we do, which I’m doing. But the African-American community must mature and deal with the reality that they have too many young black males that are aggressive and hateful and racist themselves who are consistently making the lives of the average deputy or police officer untenable. And that’s a fact,” Snyder said.
Snyder echoed the frustration of other law enforcement officers who feel they’ve been painted with the same brush as a handful of rogue cops caught on camera but who don’t represent the actions of the vast majority of nearly 1 million men and women policing the streets around the nation.
While much of the focus has been on the growing dissatisfaction of people being policed, Snyder’s comments represent what may also be a tipping point for those on the other side of the thin blue line.
“If they continue shoving cameras into our faces and calling us names and agitating and trying to create anarchy in their neighborhoods, they may end up winning the day, but the people are not going to be happy with what they get,” he said.
Many law enforcement officials, including Snyder, are looking to spiritual leaders like Holmes to help keep the situation in Florida from exploding.
“I’ve talked with many spiritual leaders across the country, in the state and city about a need to continue to call for strategic ways to strengthen police and community relations,” Holmes said.
Black pastors are organizing a “Solidarity Sunday” to show support for law enforcement and to “encourage the community to not turn on police officers but to turn to them with a spirit of love, unity and respect,” Holmes said.
But Dale Landry, vice president of the Florida branch of the NAACP, said black leaders are tired of being called upon by white officials to quell possible unrest.
“It starts to get ugly when that’s the only time you’re invited to the party, when they flash the ‘black man’ light,” Landry said, using the Batman superhero phone as an analogy.
Landry said there is “a malignancy of fear spreading among black people” about the police. He speaks about calls from mothers concerned about what might happen to their adult sons — some with sons of their own — when they travel to work or to the store.
“People have no faith anymore,” Landry, a retired law enforcement officer, said. “Right now, no lives matter in police hands.”
Landry is pushing a local referendum to create a citizens’ review board to oversee policing in Leon County and is urging other communities to pass similar initiatives.
Holmes advocates for broad-based advances — including better schools, doing away with predatory lending and making it easier for ex-felons to get jobs — to counter the despair in some urban communities.
“There is a feeling of hopeless, and when a person feels hopeless, they will ambush anyone, police, politicians, parents principals, whatever,” the pastor said.
Florida was ranked number one in police killings of unarmed individuals last year, according to Umi Selah, the mission director for the Dream Defenders, a black rights organization that pre-dates the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
“So if you’re looking for a place where this is to happen, you can, with a reasonable amount of certainty, think that Florida will be amongst those places like something like that occurs and people don’t react in a calm peaceful way to it,” said Selah, whose group coalesced after the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman near Orlando in 2012.
While his group does not advocate violence, Selah said the country’s foundation is rooted in violence.
“The chickens are coming home to roost,” he said. “With the amount of video evidence that we have, the amount of information that has been released that was redacted, you see very clearly the level of violence instigated by this country. So there should be no confusion about the fact that now people find the only solution in violence.”
But Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he does not believe the state is at a tipping point.
“There’s a saying that perception’s reality. Whether people are actually being treated in a certain way is different than whether they are, but if there is a perception on their part, then that’s a problem. That needs to be dealt with,” he said. “Law enforcement needs to do the best job we can, and in some cases a better job, about being transparent and about helping people to understand what we do, how we do it, why we do it.”
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, who serves as the head of the Florida Sheriffs Association, said the Black Lives Matter movement — which some blame for violence against police — is “not going away.”
At the same time, Demings, who is black, said the majority of African Americans support law enforcement in their communities.
He urged both sides to “tone down the rhetoric” and strengthen the relationships between law enforcement and other members of the community, including clergy.
“We’ll get through this time just like we always have,” Demings said. “A respect for honest differences is a healthy sign of process. …When we get to know each other, we can break down some of those stereotypes. I believe the overwhelming majority of people want to resolve the conflicts, if they care about their community.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Comments
12 Responses to “Frustrated Police, Black Leaders Seek Answers After Shootings”
I would like to see videos evidence of the claimed incidents. Videos of career criminals, convicted felons with stolen guns refusing to cooperate with law enforcement officers, strong armed robbers trying take a police officers gun, etc are not going to work. Not one of the recent videos indicate that “the victim” feared law enforcement officers. Please share some of these videos of completely innocent, law abiding citizens being harassed, profiled, mistreated, killed etc by our police officers. They must be out there….
Still listening but this article is dropping down in the feed. I have been thinking of a couple of your comments. As for me, I want to see you and members of the black community succeed, be happy. Actually I think I may see you as equal more than you know. Call that delusional— It is just a fact, we will see things from our own perspective. Something I learned is to seek to understand, more than to be understood.
I get my way better that way.
Yes to be a young black male in this day and age does carry a stereo type. I agree.
I am also able to say, I want to look beyond that and I believe you are capable of great things.
All the Best
I wish we could peel off our skin and live in peace. The only time I ever felt hope in my life was when Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were alive. When Dr. King was killed and Bobby Kennedy was killed 8 weeks later, I became truly convinced that “they” wanted us to stay split and have done their best to keep us separated. I place the blame on black & white leaders alike. I wrote the last sentence in alphabetical order. I am sad. Togetherness and equality will not happen in my lifetime. I don’t have a dog in the fight. My family came here in the late 1800’s.
I will acknowledge there is a problem and I believe there is frustration. I know from experience (my own) to feel like I am not listened to, respected and acknowledged that I feel the way I do is beyond frustrating . We all need that. am willing to listen to you here. I can’t guarentee no one else will but in. So around this round table. Let’s have a conversation. If someone comes in here rude or ugly, ignore them. I am sincere and I will not be quick to jump in and counter with my opinion.
This issue that many of us are having in the black community is that so many people just fail to even acknowledge that in 2016 their are still racial disparities. If people from both side would just step back and say you know what something is wrong, there are differences in how police handle different ethnicities the majority of us who are protesting and fighting for whats going on would be more adaptive to stop protesting and have a serious conversation. But with everything that’s still going on and were still made to feel that we are delusional with the issues that we are dealing with, then we have to continue protesting. Acknowledgement that there is a problem is all that we have ever asked!
I agree with Rodney. If you’ve been born here in the U.S.A. of America, then you’re an American. I don’t know why some folks identify themselves as African-American. Most of the other races DO NOT identify self by naming a country that their ancestors came from. WHY can’t one JUST BE AN AMERICAN? We were all created in the image of GOD, both male & female. I think people need to get their life right with GOD, then we would NOT have all this violence. If you doubt me, just read the BIBLE, it’s been around for many many years and so far NO ONE has been able to DISPROVE IT!!! Many races are mentioned and no where does it say one is better than another. We all live and breath the same air. I have many friends of different races and love them all! As he said, TEACH your children right from wrong, to have morals, be respectful, and to love one another! That is where it BEGINS!!
Well one thing I see about all this recently is this, I feel its OK to talk about things I may have not wanted to say. I think it is important that we listen to each other, like any relationship instead of being defensive, take sides or cast blame. Naturally, that is what we do and if violence has come into the picture it has escalated too far. With kthis, I have tried to step back and see it from many angles. It is important to not deny the fact people feel like they do and think like they do. As soon as they begin to let you know what they think and why, that is important information. This is like a wound perhaps simmering and festering that is now surfaces and opened. Where do we go from here?
Don’t try to tell the other person they are wrong or convince them to change.
So with this
Yes hopelessness is a bad state of mind whoever you are.
I don’t like the term African American, it is unAmerican and racist.
I still want Conferate memorabilia up in Dixie.
I’m sorry for Slavery I had nothing to do with it.
Some of my ancestors struggled immensely after the civil war, so much they wouldn’t even talk about it.
It was an upheaval in the South on all sides..people almost starved but they made their own way (Scots Irish)
I feel fear too
Some of my ancestors were the first slaves..Irish
I couldn’t care less, so what, I ‘m here now.
The president and first lady are black, if that’s not a shining example of what a black can do in America, I don’t know what is. I voted for Obama. Not because he was black.
I didn’t like Romney.
I don’t like Hillary nor Trump.
God help us all.
Psalms, 127:1 – Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Point one: We are all American and our ancestors have traveled the globe to walk on this soil, for the priveledge to be American. The word in itself defines a diverse culture and the fact that so many want to have another part of the world before American is a travesty to all who worked so hard to make our country great. Point two: One of the officers killed in Baton Rouge was black and there are no protests for his life. In the eyes of God, all lives matter and we are all His children. With responsibility respect is earned and accountability is a large part of being responsible. Teach your children well and they will be productive members of society, it all starts at home.
The solution is relatively easy, but no one wants to hear it.
Cops…get rid of the bad apples on your forces and quit militarizing. You know who they are, but you hide behind the “blue brotherhood”.
Blacks…quit blaming the white man for all of your problems. 99% of your issues are of your own making. Do some serious soul searching and I’m sure that you’ll see what I’m talking about.
No one wants to see the problems for what they really are?
Then get ready for more of the same.
I also believe Obama and First Lady are in a unique position of not only being the leader of the United States but black or part black to mature from their civil rights days, to recognizing they lead the whole country. They will leave a Legacy of furthering the divide and leaving racism in worse shape than when they came in for Blacks and Whites. I no longer agree with the NAACP motives. I think you are hurting us more than helping. The black lives matter movementt is causing unrest among the entire nation. Will white people trust blackst to lead the community if you allow this to go on. You have set us back 80 years.
i lived in alabama in the 60sand remember the civil rights marches and riots the relation between black and white have gotten wrose in the last 8 years and i feel part or most of the blame in the president if he would wait for all the facts to be presented before making a statement we would not have the problems we have today he has not done anything to improve relations between races