When the Missouri Department of Conservation arranged to take a group of youth from the Ferguson area and volunteers from the St. Louis County Police Department fishing to have a positive experience of nature together, this wasn’t what they had in mind.
Aniyah Rose Harrold, 5, wanted to kiss the fish she caught.
Amy Wilsdorf from the Conservation Department held up the wriggling fish while Aniyah puckered up.
However, taking the hook out of the fish’s mouth and throwing it back into the pond at the Bellefontaine Conservation Area was too much for the tiny angler.
Conservation officials were teaching the youth to catch and release the fish. Meanwhile, up the hill, Chris Morrow – a protection supervisor for the St. Louis Region and one of three African-American Conservation officials at the event – had store-bought fish and chips in the fryer.
Some cops were learning to fish, too.
St. Louis County Police Officer Darrin Young, the only black cop at the Ferguson Fishing Fair, landed his first fish (at age 50) on Saturday, May 14.
“I learned fish got to eat too,” Young said. “Put the right bait on there, and they will bite. We were here five minutes and the fish were jumping on the line.”
The Bellefontaine Conservation Area is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of I-270 and Missouri Route 367. Young, who is delegated to the County PD’s new Police Athletic League unit, said he has been driving past this spot on Route 367 all his life and never knew there was a fishing hole right there.
“I’ll look at this spot a little differently from now on,” he said.
It’s likely the youth, nearly all African-American, will look at police officers differently in the future as well. Except they must have had a difficult time identifying the cops. Many of the Conservation officers were armed and in uniform, but none of the cops were. Young was wearing his Police Athletic League jersey, but the other cops were in sweats and hoodies on this unseasonably chilly, blustery day.
Conservation agent Lexis Riter, who came up with this idea last year, was armed, in uniform and all smiles.
“I taught him how to fish,” she said of one of the boys at the event. “He caught a fish and gave me a hug. It got me all in the feels.”
She came up with the idea last year in response to “all of the negativity in the area” stirred up by the Ferguson Police killing of Michael Brown Jr. and subsequent unrest.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to get kids out in nature and have a good time around law enforcement,” Riter said. “The kids get to see that law enforcement officers are regular people who like to have a good time and fish.”
Her Conservation colleague Kevin Powell was critical in connecting with the community. Powell had coached wrestling and become friends with Albert Harrold, an African-American science teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District and founding director of the Strength and Honor Mentoring and Tutoring program.
As a former wrestler, Harrold – who is Aniyah’s father – knows how to gut through a difficult task. “Society says this is what’s needed, to give our youth opportunities and to improve the community’s relationship with law enforcement,” Harrold said. “As an ex-wrestler, I know there’s no point in talking about it. Just do it.”
Harrold teaches science to high schoolers and knows how to reach that group, but he thinks he can have a deeper impact if he reaches them younger, and so he is working with children in his mentoring and tutoring program.”
“Frederick Douglass said it is easier to build strong boys than to fix broken men,” Harrold said. “I’d like to increase my odds of actually making a difference.”
His children are along for the ride with Dad. His son Adrian pulled fish out of the pond one after another. Adrian shyly admitted that, following his sister’s lead, he also kissed one fish.
How was it?
“Nasty.”
Morrow, the black Conservation supervisor manning the fryer, was all sweetness and light as he shook up catfish nuggets in a box of batter.
“The goal is to get kids interacting with law enforcement in a positive light,” Morrow said. “A lot of time the community sees police in a reactive matter because they’re reacting to a crime that’s been committed.”
He kept shaking batter onto nuggets and frying up catfish as kids, cops and Conservation officials cycled around for second helpings.
“Everybody had a good time today,” Morrow said with a sly smile. “I don’t think anybody felt threatened.”
