MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The scenes are shocking. What happened in Dallas, Texas essentially happened to all of us.
“It just seems like it won’t stop. We gotta do something to come together to make it stop,” said Marcus McCrary of East Memphis.
“I think we all realize that there is a big problem. It’s larger than we are. It’s larger than just one city, it’s the nation,” said Anita Jones of Midtown Memphis.
Pastor Keith Norman, the head of the Memphis NAACP, appeared on Friday morning’s Live at Nine, and said the violence in Dallas never should have happened, but its a symptom of a bigger problem.
“We know it’s systemic however when people don’t have their concerns met or concerns are not dealt with in a timely manner. We have had killings after killings of African-American men around the country and have seen law enforcement exonerated, none of them indicted,” said Norman.
The Dallas protest, where a sniper opened fire and killed five people, comes as the Memphis Black Lives Matter movement is planning a local protest for Friday evening.
“We are peaceful people here at Black Lives Matter,” said Steven Bradley, a spokesperson for the local organization.
He said the protest will be a time to grieve for black lives lost and Dallas officers killed.
Bradley said the demonstration will go on because it’s about injustice even in the Mid-South
“It’s a race issue and its fueled by class. We don’t go to Collierville, pull some one over and tell them to get on the ground, but we do it in the impoverished community,” said Bradley.
Local leaders said to keep violence from springing up in Memphis, people must feel they are being heard.
“People who can make a choice and decisions, let’s do what we can do. In Memphis we have some opportunities. Not to point the finger, but here in Memphis we have an opportunity, let’s get the body cameras on police,” said Norman.
Pastor Norman said it’s time to cut the red tape surrounding the implementation of body cameras.
He also said the city needs to name a permanent police director.
Those are two big law enforcement issues that can go a long way in bridging the divide between law enforcement and the public.
