OPINION Village of Lansing needs to address interracial relations

We are writing to address the Facebook post made on the village of Lansing page on Sept. 24:

“In light of the decision out of Louisville, Kentucky yesterday, the Village of Lansing is prepared to take action should any civil unrest potentially affect our community. The Village administration, Lansing Police Department, and the Lansing PublicWorks Department are all at the ready to take action if and when necessary. The Village has also been in contact with representatives from the offices of multiple elected officials at the regional and state levelswho have offered their support and resources if needed. At this time, some barricades are in place at certainWal

Mart entrances strictly as a preventative measure.”

Presumably, this post refers to a decision made in Louisville not to charge the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor, a young Blackwoman sleeping in her home. In short, the astounding insensitivity of this statement has hurt, offended and angered the Black residents of Lansing and their allies.

The village choose to address the gross injustice done to Breonna Taylor as “the decision out of Louisville, Kentucky.” The village chose not to #SayHerName, and this choice has been noted by residents and voters.

When the decisionwas made to leave all officers responsible for Breonna’s death uncharged, the Black community of Lansing grieved. We still grieve. And the statement on Facebook made it painfully obvious that the administration of the village of Lansing does not represent nor consider the interests or feelings of the many Black citizens its officials were elected to represent and serve.

Every time another high-profile act of violence and injustice is inflicted on a Black person, we are forced to grieve in a town where the Black community makes up a substantial percentage of the town’s population, yet the local leaders refuse to say, explicitly, that Black Lives Matter.

We are forced to grieve under an administration who had the perfect opportunity to appoint a qualified Black trustee and chose not to do so.

We are forced to grieve under leadership that seems more concerned with commenting on the very small percentage of looters fromother communities than in showing support for its Black citizens, who have been peaceful in their protests.

In her nine-minute address to the community before the June 16 board meeting, Mayor Patty Eidam spent nearly four minutes thanking police and criticizing looters. Eidam said in her address, “Lansing has been a direct victim of the ugliest aspects of this civil unrest” (the “ugliest aspects” being looters). However, we have also been a victim of the ugliest aspects of police brutality, ifwe recall 2017, when 15-year-old Jordan Brunsonwas attacked by an off-duty Lansing police officer, who currently serves on active duty.

Howarewe supposed to grieve knowing these things?

In her address to the community, theword “Black” did not leave Eidam’s mouth. The issue is not between “police and the public.” The public does not suffer from targeted and sanctioned police violence on a systemic level. The public does not walk the streets, terrified of being stopped and frisked. The public does not have to sit their children down and explain to them howto navigate interactions with police so they make it out alive.

We call on the leadership of Lansing to address the reality of the situation with authentic sensitivity. A large portion of the community grieves. As village leaders, they have done little, if anything, to express concern, compassion or solidarity with us. The Black community of Lansing looks to our leadership to clearly acknowledge its Black citizens, our concerns, our interests and the importance of increased sensitivity moving forward.

We call on village officials to publicly address the Black community, affirm that Black LivesMatter and express its intentions to improve Lansing’s interracial relations by implementing a citizens review board with the support of the Lansing Community Coalition and Concerned Citizens of Lansing.