In search of answers

Vote against funding misplaced; hope for change isn’t

People of color have reasons to fear interaction with law enforcement. Maybe once upon a time it was easier for others to live in a cocoon and lack the information to understand that, but these days, videos have literally given the world a peek into horribly unjust behaviors by men and women wearing badges. And for every one caught on video and broadcast to the world, there are undoubtedly others that go unnoticed.

It should come as no surprise that nonwhite communities plead for in-depth evaluation of law enforcement agencies and how officers do their jobs on the streets. We reject the idea that communities do not need law enforcement, but questioning how and whether they “keep the peace” are fair questions, especially given the brutality documented and revealed in some cases.

Let’s assume for a moment the “bad apple” theory is right, that racism is an influence for only a tiny fraction of the men and women out there working to and serve their communities. There are 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States and more than 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers.

Do the math? If 99% of officers are uninfluenced by race in the performance of their duties, that still leaves 8,000 officers in our nation whose conduct is skewed by attitudes about race.

Does anyone believe it would be just 1%? It’s certainly not 100%, as some might have you believe, but in a profession that grants authority and ability to respond with deadly force within a matter of seconds, the existence of negative racial attitudes within even a fraction of officers can too easily lead to tragic circumstances for people like a George Floyd or a Botham Jean or a Breonna Taylor or an Eric Garner. Every one of those names reinforce the idea within the minds of people of color that the shade of their skin might determine the outcome of any interaction with a police officer.

U.S. News & World Report recently explored data showing more than 1,000 unarmed people died as a result of police harm between 2013 and 2019. About one third of them were Black.

Of all Black people who died at the hands of police — armed and unarmed — 17% did not carry a weapon. That’s a larger share than experienced in any other racial group — whites (13%), Asian (10), Hispanic (15) — in the research.

In the debate over police practices and policies, the exact portion of officers whose actions are at least partially motivated by race isn’t the only factor. Anyone wanting to discuss the matter must recognize the lens through which many Black Americans evaluate police. A Pew Research Center survey of 6,637 adults early last year found 69% of Black people said being white helps, somewhere between a little and a lot, when it comes to a person’s ability to get ahead in the United States. But white people know something’s not right, too: 56% of them agreed with the statement that skin color influences one’s ability to get ahead.

Fayetteville is on that leading edge again, the place some of its city leaders say they want to be on a lot of issues. The members of the City Council, in the midst of national and local protests about Black lives mattering as much as anyone’s — yes, some people need reminding — just joined the protests by rejecting money to support Fayetteville’s law enforcement efforts.

Asked by the Fayetteville School District and Police Chief Mike Reynolds to accept $250,000 in federal money to expand the district’s school resource officer program by two officers — that is, to expand to nine officers the district’s first-response protection for students and teachers at 16 campuses — the City Council voted 7-1 to kill the city’s opportunity to receive the money. Mark Kinion of Ward 2 was the lone dissenter.

The men and women in blue are feeling a bit gut-punched.

The City Council approved applying for the grant in March. Since then, the outcry over George Floyd’s May 25 killing in Minneapolis and other police brutality around the nation has boiled over into protests both peaceful and not. Although the school district’s resource officer program isn’t responsible for any of that, the grant’s timing made it a perfect scapegoat for a much, much larger issue.

The city’s plan to build a new police station faces a similar backlash from some residents who have either called for the city to radically alter its design or to eliminate the project entirely. Voters in 2019 approved the $37 million project to replace a downtown police station that’s been inadequate since the mid-1990s.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan, who faces three challengers in November’s election, took to social media last week to pledge “the new Police Headquarters will be built as promised.” He committed to making sure the needs of the police department are met.

“Just because you don’t see construction happening right now, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that this project isn’t moving forward,” Jordan wrote.

“That couldn’t be further from the truth. A lot of people are working hard to keep this very large project moving forward.” That earned the mayor some encouragement, but also rebukes from people who consider the project a “slap in the face” to people of color. “White supremacy wins again,” one responded. Spend the money for people hurt by covid-19 instead, another suggested.

Fayetteville needs to build its police station, following up on the commitment city leaders made to residents when they developed the proposal. Rejecting the federal money to hire two new officers at zero cost to the city was also shortsighted.

As with Mayor Jordan’s stance, those two sentences will earn some rebukes. Some critics have said all law enforcement agencies are inherently racist and violent and beyond meaningful reform. The cure, for some, is to dismantle police departments so funding can shift to paying for social workers, counselors, drug rehab programs and similar efforts. The latter groups are needed desperately, but we include law enforcement as a need, too.

It’s a shame Fayetteville’s debate descended into an us vs. them argument. Critics are right, though, that business as usual is an inadequate response to the heartbreaking and real fears of a people who have carried an unnecessary burden for this nation’s entire history. In Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas, progress can be found if people can remember that a change of heart is easier and more likely when accompanied by an open mind.