Friday, April 3, 2009

Violence: The Community and The Police

Given the two highly publicized events that have taken place in Oakland - the murder of Oscar Grant by the an Oakland police officer and the recent deaths of four Oakland police officers by an African American suspect - how do we feel about the relationship between law enforcement and people of color in our communities?

Consider the following:
*What is our collective responsibility to prevent violence as a whole when a majority of violent crimes committed in our neighborhoods are committed by members of our own communities?
*How do we get people to prioritize the accountability we have to one another?
*As we start to assess the role that our culture plays in violence and begin to discuss how to turn it around, does that dialogue hamper our ability to continue pressing law enforcement for better treatment of people of color?