The date July 7, 2016, pushed me from the spectator section of Police-Community relations to the field. I would have been at the Black Lives Matter march last year when those tragic shootings occurred, but I was with my Dad, a retired Policeman in Charlotte, NC. He was dying of gastric cancer, and as any daughter who loves her Daddy would do, I was right by his side until the glorious end.
The evening of July 7, 2016, I was in the front yard talking with neighbors about our mutual disgust over the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille. The disease had ravaged my gregarious Dad, and all he could do was utter a few words occasionally. When I walked back into the house he was watching the live protests in Minnesota and Louisiana on CNN, and he softly informed me, “Police were killed in Dallas.” I assumed it was the morphine talking. There was no way any police were killed Dallas. I thought that my Dad had gotten his cities confused and some other location was home of the shootings. Minutes later I stood in front of the television and saw the truth — five officers had been killed by a lone shooter. My Dad said, “Police can arrest without killing. We have got to fix this thing.”
Within a week I was back in Dallas and received a call from Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, asking me to pray at a police memorial. Little did I know, the event would be nationally televised and attended by President and First Lady Obama! My Dad loved to hear me pray, but his cancer sapped even more of his strength, and I am told that all he could do was watch me on TV and smile.
My Dad died a few weeks later, but his words about the reasons behind the Dallas shooting stayed on my mind. I believe they are urgings from God to do my part to “fix this thing.” As the daughter of a cop, I bleed Blue as well as Black. My unique platform enables me to work towards solutions to bridge the large and painful gulf between the African-American Community and the Police. I write on the topic and have held one citywide event thus far.
This one-year anniversary is a stinging, aching reminder that we have not gotten down the road towards “fixing it.”
Your Pastor,
Dr. Sheron C. Patterson