Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 9-30-16 Online Edition

Local
Pastors On Patrol Asking For Community Relations Workshops
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
In recent years, it seems that encounters with police have often ended in gunfire. And, in some instances, the people killed by police were unarmed.
Members of Pastors On Patrol feel that one of the main reasons the encounters turn deadly is because of a lack of respect on both sides. They feel that a return of the Law Enforcement and Com- munity Relations Workshops will help to improve the rela- tionships between the com- munity and police.
In the past, the workshops were held in various neighbor- hoods frequently. The pro- posal by Pastors On Patrol states that mutual respect is a missing ingredient in the community.
Rev. Dr. James Fa- vorite, President of Pastors On Patrol and Senior Pastor of Beulah I. B. Church said, “It is necessary that respect is given on both sides and in all areas of the community including the churches and schools.
He feels that an inter-local
LES MILLER, JR. Chairman, Hillsborough County Board Of
Commissioners
agreement should focus on workshops that target the adult community, the youth community, and there should also be command level work- shops.
“Major Willie Parker,
of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office attended our meeting and said he would send deputies to attend the meeting and the Tampa Police Department said they will send representatives as well. All of this is necessary to sup- port the success of this pro- gram,” Dr. Favorite said.
Supt. Charles Davis,
Senior Pastor of the College
REV. DR. JAMES FAVORITE Senior Pastor, Beulah I. B. Church Chairman, Pastors On Patrol
Hill Church Of God In Christ said, “We are hoping to build a better relationship between the community and the police.
“And that needs to start with children as young as kindergarten. They must find a way to relate. There are some bad police officers who do not need to be officers. And, there are some bad peo- ple There are things on both sides that need to be ad- dressed in order to develop a positive relationship,” Supt. Davis said.
Members of the organiza- tion are hoping that city and county officials will enlist the
SUPT. CHARLES DAVIS Senior Pastor, College Hill Church Of God In Christ
assistance of Fred Hearns and Clarence Fort to help recreate and coordinate the Police Community Relations Workshops.
Les Miller, Jr., Chair-
man of the Hillsborough County Board of Commission- ers said he started talking about this long before the in- cident in Clair Mel. And, I hope that one of the first ones will be held in that area.
“We want to try to make sure that we bring the people together with law enforce- ment and the community.”
Commissioner Miller
further said he secured $30,000 for the workshops to take place in Hillsborough County with representatives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. However, he said one will be held in the City limits.
The dates for the work- shops have not been deter- mined.
Talk Show To Discuss ‘Do Black Lives Matter Really?’
YOURHIGHNESS TAFARI
The Us Community Or- ganization presents Sourc- eTalk Saturday: “Do Black Lives Matter Really?”
SourceTalk Saturday is a town hall meeting style, open forum community live discus- sions show that addresses the issues that are proving to be detrimental in the survival and progression of the com- munity the only way it can be done: by getting to the source of them.
Yourhighness Tafari, Chairman of the Us Commu- nity Committee, said as the el- evation continues, there arises more spiritual chal- lenges in the attempt of de- railing the ascension.
“For this gathering, we will be collectively discussing the issues of Blacks being mur- dered at the hand of law en- forcement, including in particular the recent killing of 22-year-old Levonia “Dad- dyman” Riggins.
“We will also publicize re-
cent shootings in Chicago in- volving Black men, women, and children, and how this re- lates to each and every one of us here in the states and be- yond. Delving into the mental sickness that Blacks are oper- ating with, which shows itself clearly through self-inflicted violence on each other, and the lack of recognition on what else is really killing/at- tacking us on a daily basis, therefore rendering a lack of action to combat it.”
Tafari said this show will be live streamed online via Facebook Live on their busi- ness page, Facebook.com/Us- Community6 and PERISCOPE (Pericope.tv/Us- Community6) in which online viewers can watch on their phones, computers or tablets, and get involved in the dis- cussion via live chat.
For more information on when this show will air and at what time, contact Tafari at (813) 361-0841.
PAGE 2-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016