There are many groups meeting within the St. Louis area and in North County in particular discussing the inequity in the criminal justice system and attempting to deal with the racial issues in North County. The various groups are attempting to deal with all the problems, racial profiling, municipal reforms, inequity in ticketing, fines, police community relations, lack of quality education for African-American students, etc., at one time.
If these groups got together and agreed to coordinate their efforts so that each group would focus all their efforts on one issue, we would see more results. Unfortunately, this is not happening.
As we have seen in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York and other cities, there is a great need for various groups to work together to make meaningful changes.
This is what North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice’s “Discussion and Solutions Committee” is doing. It has been focusing its efforts of creating better relations between the police and the community, and it is making progress in bringing the police and African-American community together. This group was organized following a number of meetings between police officials, mayors, and clergy since the killing of Michael Brown Jr. by Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson.
The investigations, numerous meetings of various groups, protests and violence since this time have made it clear that there is a great deal of mistrust between the police and the African-American community. A great deal of lengthy discussions were helpful to bring attention regarding to the public that there are longstanding problems that need to be addressed.
North County Churches Uniting (NCCU) wanted to move beyond the discussion stage and move to the action stage. We have been steadily moving forward with action plans.
Action taken by this committee has resulted in a number of police departments increasing their involvement with school districts, community organizations and churches. For example, the Alton, Illinois Police Department has begun to participate in many activities within the Alton community and has met with a number of groups, reestablishing and reconstituting its Human Relations Commission to make it more effective.
NCCU Coordinator of Police-Community Collaboration or Partnership, Rev. Michael Krewson, has been successful in working out an arrangement with the Rev. Freddie Clark, of the largest African-American Church in North County, Shalom Church (City of Peace). In addition, the St. Louis County Police Department has worked to form a softball team and join the church’s softball league.
All police departments represented on the Discussion and Solution Committee agreed to work with churches to explore ways they can form a partnership together to work on issues that exist within the community. All pastors on the committee have agreed to work with the police departments as well. Further, they all expressed a desire to have a general breakfast meeting with pastors of various churches to explore ways they can come together to further this goal.
The committee will hold another breakfast meeting between mayors, police officials, clergy and others on May 20. For more information, visit http://nccustl.org.
Rance Thomas is president of North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice.
Dance Explosion and Youth Revival
Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church will host a Dance Explosion and Youth Revival the weekend of May 15-17. It promises to be a high praise weekend, as the revival kicks off Friday, May 15 at 7 p.m. with a Driven Dance Ministry Explosion featuring special guests Worship without Words Mime Ministry and dancers from around the city of St. Louis. The Youth Revival begins Sunday, May 17 at 10 a.m. worship and a program at 4 p.m. Both events held at Jerusalem M.B. Church, 5596 Ridge Ave.
