00:00Welcome back to Essence Debates Now.
00:04Art imitates life and joining me on the discussion of the ongoing tension
00:08between the police force and the citizens they serve are former Mayor Eldridge Hawkins Jr.
00:12and rapper David Banner who is on Skype. Mayor Eldridge I want to get you your
00:16thoughts and opinions on the scene that we just saw from Scandal.
00:18Well I think that that scene is indicative of how some
00:22law enforcement officers feel about the resentment that they get from the communities in which they serve.
00:26Sometimes you might have select individuals that are doing the wrong thing
00:30but I think in large part most of law enforcement is doing the right thing
00:33yet the community tends to paint all of law enforcement with an ugly brush if you will
00:38and lashing out at them when the overwhelming majority of them are doing the right thing.
00:42So I think that speaks to some of that resentment of getting pushback from the same people you're trying to help and serve.
00:47And what do you recommend the community do?
00:50Do you think there's a different way that we should interact or engage officers in our communities?
00:54Absolutely, I think from the administrative side having been Mayor one of the things that we worked on
00:58was engaging the community through specifically community policing, block watch groups,
01:02interacting with them so that the officers knew the kids on the street.
01:05So that perhaps that personal relationship might allow them an opportunity to diffuse the situation
01:10rather than escalating up the force or the level of force that they could utilize.
01:15So that's one way but I think that also we have to realize that people when they're in the street
01:19they have to follow the instructions of the officers.
01:21So many times we see situations spiral out of control because the individual that is dealing with the police officer
01:27feels that they're being wronged.
01:29Okay and it's not for me to say right now whether they are being wronged or they're not.
01:32But on that street they need to follow the orders of the officer.
01:35And if the officer is doing something wrong then after that they can go to internal affairs,
01:39they can file litigation but again too often we see incidents in the street where that resistance,
01:44that failure to comply causes things to spiral out of control.
01:47Now I have to flip that question back.
01:49What about police learning how to communicate within those communities?
01:52Well I think that there's a role for that too.
01:55There has to be in-house training and again building those relationships,
01:58working with community leaders, whether that's ministers, whether that's parents, PTAs,
02:02getting the police as much as possible in a non-confrontational setting to interact with the people of that community.
02:08And also having a force that is in many ways reflective of the community it's serving.
02:12Diversity is key.
02:14If you have a blended community you should have a blended police force.
02:17And we also have David Banner who is now joining us on Skype.
02:19Mr. Banner thank you so much for joining us today.
02:22What are your thoughts on the clip that we just watched as well as Eldridge's response?
02:27Well I didn't see the clip but I heard the clip.
02:30This is what I say.
02:31The problem is this.
02:33It's everybody's making excuses for cops.
02:36Nobody's making a cop be a cop.
02:39That is your job.
02:41Our tax money is going to that.
02:44It's like in the situation in Baltimore everybody is trying to find reasons why the cops are right.
02:50You are under an oath.
02:52You are under an oath to do the right thing.
02:55And it just amazes me how people tell black, especially black men, always stay in line, stay in line.
03:04The truth is before I was a rapper I remember how the cops acted.
03:08And I heard his comment about all cops are not wrong.
03:11I admit that.
03:12But one thing that my neighbor who is a cop said.
03:15He said something I never forget.
03:17Every cop knows who the bad cops are.
03:20So you know the people who are in the force who are doing the wrong thing, who have a long history of not being fair to black men and women and children.
03:31Because just a year ago I tweeted for 10 hours straight situations where cops had hurt or killed black men, women or children for 10 hours straight.
03:44So if you have these so called good cops who know who the bad cops are, just like this situation in Baltimore, they know who these cops were.
03:53So why are these cops not brought to justice if you're such a good cop?
03:57If you really care about innocent lives, that shouldn't matter whether a black person killed a black person, whether a white person killed a black person or whether it was a cop.
04:09That should be justice and it should not be blind.
04:12So I think what we should start doing is start recognizing those people who are being paid to uphold the law.
04:21And we always try to draw a parallel between what blacks are doing to blacks.
04:28If I slap you in your face right now and tell you, well, your brother slapped you so it should be okay.
04:35It shouldn't really matter.
04:37See, what the problem is is most of these public officials don't want to deal with their dirty laundry.
04:43This has been a problem all the time.
04:46And I'm very proud of these children.
04:48I'm very proud of these children who are in St. Louis and who are in Baltimore who are doing the jobs that our parents were supposed to do.
04:55We were doing this in the 60s.
04:57We are still fighting the same problems that our parents were fighting in the 60s.
05:02And if we really did our job the right way, these kids wouldn't have to be out here on these streets.
05:07Eldridge would like to have the opportunity to respond to David's comments.
05:10Absolutely.
05:11He raises some key issues.
05:12And believe me, I understand where he's coming from.
05:13Because long before I was a cop, I was black.
05:15Right?
05:16Still black.
05:17So I understand what that feels like, the uncomfortableness of being pulled over, what those motions are.
05:22But I also understand what it feels like to be a police officer in uniform and have to make snap decisions in an instant,
05:27wondering whether or not, if it doesn't go right, how that's going to pan out in the news and the media,
05:32when you're well-intentioned in trying to do the right thing.
05:35Welcome back to Essence Debates Now.
Comments