By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As well intentioned white people sat around the table expressing varying degrees of outrage over the latest shootings of black men by white law enforcement officers, Ana Brown had to interject.
“As the only black person in the room,” Brown wanted them to know how she felt. “I’m tired. As black people, we are so tired. We are tired of black people being hashtags.”
During Thursday’s meeting of the Bowling Green Not In Our Town organization, Brown shared the story of a black student who was recently pulled over because of a clerical error. The student was surrounded by police with guns drawn, then handcuffed.
“That would not happen to me,” said Cindy Baum, who is white.
“We run, we get shot. We stay still, we get shot,” Brown said.
The Not In Our Town meeting gave people a chance to discuss the police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota this week, and to ask local law enforcement how things can go so horribly wrong.
“This is the place we talk about this stuff,” said Rev. Gary Saunders, of NIOT.
The shootings brought a couple new people to the meeting this week. One was seeking answers. “After the recent events, I can’t sit back anymore,” Baum said. “It is pretty remarkable how much of this is happening over and over and over again. Something has to change.”
Others said the issue isn’t new, just the proliferation of videos from cell phones.
“Thank goodness,” Baum said.
Despite their frustration, there was a realization that the public only sees fragments from video footage.
“Right now we don’t know all the facts,” said Lt. Dan Mancuso, of the Bowling Green Police Division. “We’re getting bits and pieces reported from the media.”
“There’s more to the story,” agreed Bowling Green State University Police Chief Monica Moll.
But Moll also said it’s hard to deny that a problem exists. “It’s tough when you see a group of incidents, when you know there is something wrong,” she said.
Moll said she believes the problems are fed by irrational biases on both sides of the issue. “They are motivated out of fear rather than hate.” Because of past experiences, many blacks are suspicious of police, and many police approach blacks with their own biases.
“It takes a second,” for something to go wrong, Moll said. But she did add that when things go wrong, “Police bear the brunt of the responsibility. They are the ones with the power.”
As a white person, NIOT member Julie Broadwell said she has never feared for her safety when stopped by police. “I have never had to worry about being shot,” she said.
Because she doesn’t have a history of being treated poorly, Broadwell probably acts differently when stopped by police, Moll surmised. But black people who have had bad experiences with police naturally react differently.
“Many officers interpret that as resistance,” Moll said.
Baum questioned the need for the levels of force used by police in such instances as the most recent shootings. Can’t police just shoot someone in the leg if they feel threatened, she asked.
No, Mancuso said. “One, it’s not easy. And two, it doesn’t stop the threat,” he explained. “You are trained to stop the threat,” by shooting in the chest or head.
Baum also asked about Tasers as a less deadly weapon for police to use in confrontations. Mancuso explained that Tasers immobilize muscles by sending an electrical current between two darts with hooks shot into a suspect. However, Tasers are not 100 percent effective and must penetrate the suspect’s skin to work.
Police are trained to employ the “use of force continuum,” which suggests that police respond to a suspect’s weaponry with the next step on the continuum, Mancuso said.
The problem isn’t that police are using their guns as lethal responses – the question is if they are using their guns in situations where other resolutions are possible.
“You should never be shooting someone unless you are facing a deadly threat,” Moll said.
Brown said the problem cannot be solved by focusing on individual officers. “It’s a systemic issue,” that begins as early as preschool when black boys are suspended far more often than white boys with the same behavior.
“Even before they get to school, the stigma starts,” Brown said. “We need to start attacking the problem at the systemic level.”
Moll suggested one place to start is trying to prevent misunderstandings before problems occur. By building better relationships between police and the community, when there are problems the two sides tend to “give each other the benefit of the doubt” and reduce the level of tension, she said. Then cooler heads can prevail.
The city and university police have started holding “coffee with cops” events at local coffee shops to bring people together in stress free settings.
Mancuso and Moll said police already meet with international students about what they should expect when police approach them. It was suggested that police meet with other targeted groups where misunderstandings occur frequently.
Krishna Han said he was scheduling a time for BGSU students to gather and talk about the recent shootings in a “healing space” next week. Counseling center staff will be on hand, he said.
“I really worry about students watching this. It’s so graphic,” Han said of the widespread videos. “It’s really exhausting.”
It was suggested that Not In Our Town host a series of meetings on campus to address concerns. Saunders said the group needs to listen and learn. “We have to listen to the actual people involved in these things.”
Saunders said he often recalls the words spoken by a black member of NIOT after the police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. “Black people are getting killed. You can’t just blow by that.” And black parents have to raise their children with the fear that police aren’t always on their side.
It’s a difficult reality for whites to grasp.
“We get the yahoos … when they see a ‘black lives matter’ sign, they yell ‘blue lives matter,’” Brown said.
They don’t get it. They already matter.
