Episode 18 | One Activist, One Black Police Officer & One Conversation
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER EDITION
We discuss police reform, “the talk” and what they would have done had they seen the murder of George Floyd firsthand. Re-joining me this episode is Diallo Brooks. A social justice advocate based in Washington, DC who works for People For the American Way. You will remember him from the COVID-19 episode. Sitting with us is Dave; and we will go by his first name only, to protect him. Dave joins us as a Black cop based on the East Coast who shares the flaws he sees daily within the police department, the reason why he joined the force and his thoughts being an officer, while Black, in America.
SHOW NOTES
Diallo Brooks and Dave the Cop on…
07:30 - What inspired Diallo to get into social justice. Fact: his great-great grandmother, Maggie Walker, was the first woman and first black woman to found a bank. A statue has been erected in Richmond, VA in her honor.
09:17 - What it looks like to champion social justice.
13:17 - How they would feel if their kids decided to become police officers.
17:33 - On policing being a way of fighting for social justice.
18:45 - Officers that stand by and watch their colleagues kill black civilians.
21:00 - Being on the side of the protestors.
22:25 - What inspired Dave to become a police officer.
23:17 - What he wish he knew before becoming a police officer.
25:36 - Whether Dave identifies more as being a black man or being a police officer in America; and how it affects how he does his job.
29:40 - How Dave, as a Black man, feels seeing and hearing about the senseless murders of Black civilians.
31:58 - What “the talk” sounds like in both their households.
42:00 - Racial biases within the police department.
44:17 - The quota system - productivity goals within the police department.
52:44 - Historical context of how policing came about as a formalized structure during slavery.
54:38 - Police reform. Understanding the core needs of the community will dictate what level of policing is required.
66:20 - Respecting due process & timelines for the investigation and indictment of wrongful police officers.
71:00 - Police violence stats according to https://mappingpoliceviolence.org.
72:00 - Defining qualified immunity.
75:00 - Accountability around police misconduct in the Black community.
79:00 - What their actions would have been had they seen George Floyd being murdered firsthand.
93:45 - Whether this is a movement or a moment.