Here in Tullahoma
In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, the United States has witnessed massive protests and a renewed call for reforms in policing to protect Black Americans from abuse and violence.
It is foolish to imagine that the issues sparking the protest exist only in far away places and not within our community. I call on my neighbors in Tullahoma to consider the wisdom of taking proactive action to address the concerns of the Black Lives Matter movement.
First, consider that the issues of racism are both personal and systemic. Individuals act and speak in racist ways, and truly we can say that the guilt lies with them for acting out of the corruption of their hearts. But it is also true that racism has deep roots within the communities of our country. Its hand has carved the very structures of many of our institutions and has specifically shaped Tullahoma in significant ways.
I am very grateful that our local police department is made up of many wonderful people. Their character and devotion to their duty is an essential element to the department’s success—indeed, the most important one. But relying on the character of individuals without appropriate systems is to court disaster.
While we presume in good faith that our law enforcement personnel are individuals of character and integrity, we entrust them with certain levels of power in our community. The American way has always been to be leery of distributing power to agents of the state. Any power given must be appropriately checked and restrained. Persons who are perceived as too powerful will always be met with distrust and resistance. In our current cultural climate, this perception—regardless of its veracity—escalates the tensions between law enforcement communities and the citizens they serve, and creates more danger for those whose duty is already fraught with risk.
Neglecting systems of accountability and systems which cultivate professional standards of non-racist behavior imperils both individual officers and citizens. Creating such appropriate systems—and communicating them openly—is simply a requirement if we are to continue to dismantle the legacy of racial injustice.
Fortunately, paths forward have emerged as communities have sought solution and developed systems appropriate for their contexts. I offer the following, knowing that some of the suggestions may indeed not fit our context. However, these are reasonable and readily available starting points for discussion, and I submit them hoping that our community can have an honest, robust conversation about the best way forward.
I am certain that there are steps already active in Tullahoma. Indeed, I would not be surprised if some of the steps outlined below are already implemented! However, the community would greatly benefit from clear communication of those steps. I call on the city to make publicly available, via the city’s website, currently active policies and procedures designed to ensure fair and equitable treatment of citizens by police, regardless of race.
The city should create regular structured and informal opportunities for dialogue between law enforcement personnel and the community, particularly the African American community within Tullahoma.
The city should implement and publicize regular de-escalation training for law enforcement personnel.
The city should implement and publicize regular training to address implicit bias within the law enforcement context. This should also become part of the screening process for personnel.
The city should implement body camera systems and policies to ensure their usage creates reliable accountability.
The city should publicize the appropriate channels for complaints of unfair treatment so that citizens may have confidence that their concerns will be taken seriously.
The city should publicize how the police department measures performance in this area for both the entire department and for individual personnel.
These are by no means complete solutions. The issues are far ranging from such local policing issues to issues throughout the criminal justice system and beyond. But these are places where we can start, here in Tullahoma, so that our community lives up to its ideals of being a community where all of its citizens flourish.
In Peace,
Steven Hovater
Note: I will update this post as other information becomes available.
