Billy Ray Fields is a black police officer working in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Following the tragic shootings in St. Paul, Minnesota, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and now Dallas, Texas, Fields reached out to me and asked that I share this video that he made in the middle of the night to address what’s going on.
First here is his video.
Many people might take away from this video that Fields is trying to minimize law enforcement’s responsibility to not only de-escalate and defuse situations, but also create stronger bonds with the communities that they patrol.
However, Fields is talking about a subject matter that many within social justice movements don’t like to address. Black communities, as well as all communities experiencing issues with crime, need to find ways to work with law enforcement. Also, they must build other relationships to help resolve some of the causes of criminal behavior.
Local community leaders and politicians need to address things like unemployment, school to prison pipelines, mass incarceration, discrimination, rehabilitation for convicts and drug addicts, after school programs, nutritional challenges for children, and a host of other factors that influence crime.
We need partnerships between the community and local, state, and federal government. Law enforcement and the business community also need to start seeing the types of changes Fields calls for in the video. Also, young people, especially young black men, need to take ownership and account of their lives.
We can’t rely on people who only view themselves as products of their environment to magically start thinking differently. We need to influence that change and demand it if necessary. That means getting hands-on with youth to show them a better path.
The business community also needs to step up and start offering more opportunities within the poor communities that they reap their generous profits from. Customers need to demand that they get off of the sidelines and get involved, demand it.
Corporations don’t want to appear as heartless as they actually are, so they will respond to public pressure. But there must first be pressure.
One huge thing that needs to happen is for the federal government to end the war on drugs. Richard Nixon started this war to disrupt the anti-Vietnam war movement and oppress black communities. The tree that’s known as the “war on drugs” was planted using poisoned seeds in poisoned soil and has bared nothing but poisoned fruit.
It’s time to pull it up from its roots then start putting down new soil and seeds of progress. In this video, Fields tells the truth about this fake war as well.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
