ST. LOUIS — Before and after slavery, African Americans have endured a traumatic relationship with law enforcement.
From slave patrols to post-slavery laws to racially motivated stop-and-frisk laws, police have been tools to socially control and repress Black people.
On Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis held a forum at New Sunny Mount Missionary Baptist Church, 4700 West Florissant Avenue, designed to build trust and reduce fear between police and communities of color.
The forum was part of Phase 3 of the 400 Years of African American History Commission’s (400YAAHC) “I Fear for My Life Campaign,” which is dedicated to seeking “common ground” for candid dialogue among citizens who want to see less fear in the criminal justice system.
Ironically, “I fear for my life” is the dual language of Black people and the police. For Black people, it applies to the fear of deadly force employed by law enforcement. For police, it refers to violence they may encounter from a domestic call, a drug arrest, or a traffic stop.
In both scenarios, the fear is reasonable; it is real and, according to 400YAAHC, it needs to be discussed openly, publicly, and continually.
The forum was led by Kideste Yusef, associate professor of criminal justice and chair of the Bethune-Cookman University Center for Law and Social Justice.
Yusef told the crowd that Missouri has been the hotbed of the national discussion on police violence even before Michael Brown was gunned down by a Ferguson police officer in 2014.
She cited the results of national surveys indicating that police officers across the country have indicated an increase in their levels of fear and anxiety when interacting with the public.
While noting the so-called “Ferguson Effect” where criticism and distrust of police has increased their fears and lowered their morale, Yusef also spoke to the long history of policing that has persistently increased “anxiety and fears” among Black people.
She shared experiences from the “I Fear for My Life Campaign.”
“As we travel across the country, we expect people to have a diversity of experiences with law enforcement. For example, what we know is that African American college students are having frequent and consistent contact with law enforcement. They’re not always negative encounters but what we know is they’re having more encounters than the general public and some of these encounters have been traumatizing.”
Describing both police and Black people as “communities,” Yusef stressed that fear and mistrust exists on both sides of the equation.
Some Black Americans have fears and anxieties from “lived experiences” or through social media accounts. Yet, on the side of law enforcement, she added: “We know the job is high-stress and at any time can lead to a situation where a loss of life may occur.”
The next crucial step, she added, is the need for the two communities to come together and share their histories of different traumas.
“Most of the young people we’ve talked to had only engaged with law enforcement as a reaction to calls for service but not in a voluntary, positive environment where they choose to have a sit-down,” Yusef explained.
The same applies to law enforcement, Yusef added, who are often going from service call to service call with no time to create “space” for what she defined as “non-aggressive, non-enforcement contact.”
It’s also important who comes to that space, she added, referring to previous “I Fear For My Life” campaign meetings.
“It’s mostly people who trust and respect the community already and don’t have these issues. That’s not who we need to be speaking to.”
The same applies to law enforcement. Yusef said, adding that most officers involved with public engagement meetings “are not the officers that people are complaining about.” They are officers in districts that have already implemented voluntary engagement activities in communities of color.
“We have to normalize these conversations where they become institutionalized within the agencies but also where communities start to understand and embrace our collective responsibilities,” Yusef said.