Heartbreak.
Fear.
Anger.
These were the feelings of Clark County’s black leaders Friday, as the nation reeled from a week marked by racial violence. Locals made it clear they condemn all the violence.
For so many black men and women, the shootings have become an all-too-familiar story. The Counted, The Guardian’s project tracking police shootings in the United States, reports that police have shot and killed 569 people in the United States in 2016, 137 of whom were black.
“As a mother of African American sons, this hits us to a certain core,” said Deena Pierott, organizer of Vancouver’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. “It’s an ache that we have, and we realize it’s not going to end anytime soon.”
Margo Bryant has a foot in both worlds. She represents the NAACP at the Vancouver Police Department’s Chief Diversity Advisory Team.
Bryant praised the Vancouver Police Department for its efforts but said the community needs to have more frank conversations about the “systemic problem” of anger directed at black men.
“None of these people deserved to die,” Bryant said. “That’s the first thing we all have to understand. None of these people. From the black men to the police, they did not deserve to die.”
Cecelia Towner, president of the local chapter of Black Lives Matter, condemned the actions of Micah Xavier Johnson, who shot and killed five police officers at an otherwise peaceful protest in Dallas. She urged people not to “assign the actions” of one person to the entire movement.
“Killing police officers or anyone is clearly not something Black Lives Matter condones,” she said. “We know from attending to the deaths of blacks the trauma those left behind endure. There is a hole that will never be filled and we would not wish that on anyone.”
Nathan Webster, executive director of Dream Big Community Center, described a life punctuated by fear. On the occasions he’s been pulled over for routine traffic stops, he said, he couldn’t help but notice officers’ hands flit to their holsters.
“That’s not a good feeling,” he said. “I keep my car clean. I’m a former Marine. It doesn’t matter.”
“What happens if I run into a cop having a bad day?” Webster wondered aloud.
Webster and others called for open dialogue and for those of all races and backgrounds who are fed up with the violence to “stand up and do something.”
“I wish all the good people will stand up and do something,” Webster said. “Instead of just watching, why don’t they do what’s good and do what’s right and start talking about these things? You might not know that you could be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”
Park rally
About 20 or so community members gathered in Esther Short Park on Friday evening to protest police brutality, then marched around downtown chanting and carrying signs.
Miranda Bickford organized the march late Thursday night and said she felt so frustrated by the string of black deaths at the hands of police officers, she felt she had to do something.
“I feel like there is an insane lack of humility and empathy,” she said. “I honestly felt like I had no choice but to stand with my brothers and sisters of color and show that when we do stand together we’re very, very powerful and we can say a lot even if it’s just a small group of people.”
Continuing to protest police shootings of black people in the wake of the Dallas shootings, where officials say the shooter specifically targeted police, still makes sense, she added. Seeing the conflict as police versus African-Americans is reductive and false, she said.
“I don’t feel like the two are mutually exclusive. I feel like you can be pro-cop and pro Black Lives Matter,” she said.
Every day police officers put on their uniforms and head out to do good work, she said.
“But I do think there are a lot of places where, unfortunately, racism does trump the need to do good for everybody. And these cops are allowing this, like, racist core value to interfere with the job that they’re meant to be doing.”
