Minority police officers say they are as upset about racism as anyone, and they struggle to change the culture in their communities.
“Racism is alive and well in this country,” Sgt. Yulanda Williams, a 25-year Black police veteran in San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I certainly understand that there are injustices within the criminal justice system, but we’re all being condemned,” said Capt. Bisa French, a Black and Latina woman of the Richmond Police Department. “Some of our officers feel like they are out there doing the right thing on a daily basis, but they are getting judged for the actions of the few who do wrong.”
Williams, who leads Officers for Justice, an organization representing San Francisco police of color, says she has seen racism on and off the job. She was quoted in the Chronicle.
Her grandson, who is bi-racial, was the target of an alleged hate crime when some of his high school classmates spread cotton balls on his lawn.
“I was outraged,” said Williams, “but I was also glad that I was a police officer. If I was calling as a regular citizen, I don’t know if it would have made the difference.”
“We, as police officers, took this job because we wanted to make a difference. We wanted to take control of the policing in our communities,” she said. “We don’t sleep in our uniforms at night. We’re all human.”
“It’s a conflicting situation,” said French. “They (Black) officers are part of these segments of the community, too. I think about how I would be treated if I wasn’t wearing the uniform.”
In December, protesters chained themselves to the entrances of Oakland’s police headquarters. Oakland Police Lt. LeRonne Armstrong said he was behind a line of officers when demonstrators began to call him names and suggest he take off his uniform and join them.
“Inclusiveness is the greatest thing we need right now,” said Armstrong of those who suggest that it is not a good thing to have African-Americans as part of law enforcement
Kenton Rainey, a Black man, took the job of BART police chief in 2010, a year after a White transit officer fatally shot Black Oscar Grant on a station platform in Oakland.
Rainey talked to Kale Williams of the Chronicle about the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Tamir Rice, a Black 12-year-old boy who was shot by a White Cleveland officer, who reported mistaking a toy gun for the real thing.
Flawed tactics and a lack of proper training were at least partly to blame, said Rainey. “Whether I’m stopping someone for a bank robbery or jaywalking, you never do it from the seat of your car,” he said. “These were bad tactics, and for us as leaders not to say that? Shame on us.”
“I’ve worked in six departments in three states and everyone, from chiefs to beat officers, says they want community policing. But few of them want to actually teach officers how to be culturally competent in all segments of the community.” Rainey concluded.
