This is a hard time for us all, as the country grapples with racism and police brutality. People in all 50 states have been taking to the streets in an attempt to make a much-needed change. As we all experience anger and frustration, it can be easy to close others out.
But some people are trying to reach out to others who might not be like them. They want to know more about others’ experiences. And when these conversations happen on a large scale, real change can start to occur.
A viral story
Recently, a man named Dujuan Thomas was stopped by the police. With everything happening in the news, that might sound concerning. But what happened next was a moment of connection, not destruction.
The cop didn’t pull him over
This cop wasn’t trying to get Dujuan in trouble. Rather, he started talking to him because Dujuan was trying to fix his car on the side of the road. The officer pulled up and asked if everything was okay.
An unexpected conversation
Even though the cop had just stopped to see if Dujuan was okay, it wasn’t long before they began a conversation. That’s because the policeman realized that Dujuan was running for mayor of their town, Paducah. The cop asked if they could have a discussion.
They talked for nearly an hour
The two spent quite a lot of time on the side of the road, just talking. Of course, they discussed Dujuan’s campaign. But they also covered the protests and everything that’s going on in the country right now.
Mutual respect
As a minority, Dujuan was happy this officer took the time to speak to him. After all, we need to learn about the viewpoints of others. Dujuan wrote, “I have great respect for this officer who took the time to ask me, a minority, my thoughts about the issues we are facing and my thoughts on how we can fix them.”
Working together
Dujuan realized he and this cop (and others like them) have to work together to rebuild communities. In his Facebook post, he wrote, “As a leader in our community, moments like this need to be shared. Because as he and I both agreed, if we want our country to find peace, we need our leaders to speak up and tell the police to RESPECT the people, and the people to RESPECT the police.”
Leaders need to speak up
Police offers and leaders have to start communicating better with one another. But they also have to speak up about injustices within the legal system. They have to be willing to sound the alarm when something’s not right. And that means working together to do that.
We’re all people
While the country might have to make changes to the policing system as a whole, this interaction proved something to Dujuan. Not all cops are bad. Some are working against the system to do their duty to protect other citizens.
Insight from a cop
This cop agreed that not everyone should be in his profession. As Dujuan said, “Other cities need to visit PPD and get schooled on how to treat citizens and conduct themselves in stressful situations. As he told me, PPD is strict on who they hire, and some people are NOT cut out to be cops.”
Hope for everyone
In times of strife, this is what we need. Leaders must come together and talk about solutions. This is just one small example of that, but it well worth sharing.
Hopefully, this can be a lesson that we all need to work together during these difficult times.
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Source: Love What Matters, Facebook
