“You were born to be a leader.” Many people have told me this since I was a young child; rather it was my parents, extended family, educators, coaches, or college friends. I have been intrigued by my environment and the social construction of the world since as early as age five.
It is my aspiration and passion to become an agent of change through reducing and eliminating racial disparities; especially in the African American communities. Through my passion, the most sufficient method of action for this change would be working hand and hand with those who we are supposed to trust to protect and arrest in the communities, which are police officers.
“Influence of Implicit-Bias Training on the Cultural Competency of Police Officers” by Marvin Whitfield has a lot of content that relates to my passion. There is clear evidence of inequality on all levels of the criminal justice system. Black people are more likely to be stopped by police. In 2014, the number of police-related fatal shootings involving unarmed African American boys and men increased dramatically.
Subsequently, these shootings received significant media coverage, which resulted in public unrest (Hall, Hall, & Perry, 2016). In 2015, young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers (Mc McCarthy, 2015). Unfortunately, it is 2020 and the previously stated past studies are still issues all over our country. For decades, there has been so many killings of unarmed black men. A context has been created where people are afraid of police.
As an African American female who has been racial profiled before in a social security office with a younger African American brother who’s been pulled over by the police and illegally searched as a part of my past experiences, I’ve been dedicated to to praying to God for strategies to move forward. In my past experiences there were two intricate parts which were forgiveness and how to move forward strategically with faith. Romans 3:20-24 helps tremendously with gracefully moving. Completely believing in what God can do for me meant not to move out of rage because He soon made me realize I need grace for my next, so I can’t afford to be bitter or enraged about yesterday.
Due to my past experiences with police, I’ve been blessed to channel frustration into a unique social responsibility and interact with my local law enforcement at public events to talk more justice and less deaths. When it comes to my role as a practitioner-academic, I’ve been on panels for police vs community at a university level, street cleans ups with city officials, and personal conversations with law enforcement. Adapting to global and domestic challenges will happen by contributing and/or creating covenants and creative techniques to bridge the gap between police departments and the communities they serve in.
In conclusion, life tends to throw whatever it wants at you whenever and this is why when living we must try to remain cognitive of following our passion and allowing it to take root and produce fruit.
