Long Beach Black Leaders Frustrated, Angry
By RICH ARCHBOLD | June 5, 2020 | Press-Telegram
After days of unrest throughout the country, protestors take to the streets of Long Beach on Sunday, May 31, 2020. They began at the Long Beach Police Station and travelled eastbound on Broadway to the Promenade before turning back. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Long Beach City Council member Al Austin sat in his Eighth District home last week watching television and, at first, couldn’t believe what he was seeing: A white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man, George Floyd, crushing out his life.
“My initial reaction was shock, then anger and sadness,” Austin, who is black, said this week.
He was referring to video footage that has since thrown the nation into turmoil. The debate over police violence, in particular against black people, has been reignited. Thousands have protested in the 10 days since Floyd died, from Los Angeles to New York, Chicago to Atlanta. While most of the protests have been tense-but-peaceful, some have devolved into violence, especially after nightfall. In Los Angeles County over the weekend, several demonstrations ended with police clashes, looting and vandalism
Even in Long Beach, a city that prides itself on diversity and inclusivity, a Sunday, May 31, protest led to damaged businesses and police using rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. While the city has remained calm since, under a curfew, it is clear Long Beach is not immune from the shock, anger and sadness Austin said he felt. There were even two more protests Wednesday, and three Friday.
Multiple Long Beach black leaders expressed similar emotions, in interviews with the Press-Telegram this week, with a general consensus among them being that while the city has made improvements in race relations, to varying degrees, much more work – hard work – needs to be done.
“This is a watershed moment in our city’s history,” said Ninth District Council member Rex Richardson, who spent Tuesday cleaning graffiti off the walls of businesses hit by vandalism downtown Sunday night. “We should make it our mission to make this an equitable city for all. This is an opportunity to talk to people different from us. Let’s not sweep this under the rug.”
Dee Andrews (Sixth District), the third black – and most tenured – member on the City Council, along with Austin and Richardson, said the city needed “to unite and fight together against inequities in all different arenas and break down the barriers that have oppressed communities of color so we all have a level playing field.”
Naomi Rainey-Pierson, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, echoed the council members’ comments.
“Let’s not just put this behind us and just move on,” she said. “Let’s use this tragic event as a call to action to work together in a brave, inclusive fashion to make tomorrow better than yesterday.”
Melissa Morgan, Long Beach’s former Human Dignity Officer who now handles communications for Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion, disagrees that race relations have improved in the city. She, in fact, has a bleaker view of things.
“It’s incredibly clear that things have not improved, and have gotten worse, with police/community relations in Long Beach and in our neighboring communities,” she said, “particularly when it comes to how police interact with the poor, with blacks, with people with mental illness and with our youth.
“All of these issues are connected to bias and prejudice,” Morgan added.
The solution, according to Morgan?
“We need to all be willing to have uncomfortable, open, honest conversations with ourselves, our neighbors and our institutional leaders to repair all the harm that has been done to build a stronger Long Beach,” she said. “We need to learn to talk about race and address our challenged community.”
The future remains unclear. But, these leaders say, Long Beach can use this moment as a catalyst to make the community more equitable.
“I am furious, disappointed and deeply grieving,” said Rev. Gregory Sanders, lead pastor of The ROCK Christian Fellowship and president of the Long Beach Ministers Alliance. “But never hopeless.”
Melissa Morgan
Morgan, the city’s former human dignity officer, now handles communications for Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion, a community development corporation.
“There are too many stories of black families in Long Beach who have been victims of police brutality, harassment and disrespect. Their voices aren’t heard widely. They are often ignored. And, sadly, I think that we blacks have unconsciously accepted that that’s just the way life is.
“I’m reminded of this by how I’m seeing white folks respond with such dismay and shock by the recent news coverage. I welcome white folks to continue seeking out the differences in our realities when it comes to race. It’s a process and it takes time, but it’s healthy and helpful.
“The institution of policing is incredibly flawed and needs to be changed, but I don’t think the common Long Beacher is paying attention. Our police are shielded from accountability and transparency, and it will take our every day neighbors, especially white people who really care, to put pressure on our city for more accountability and oversight.
“Our local Black Lives Matter (led mostly by black women) has been active for more than five years now, doing their best to advocate and educate, but they have continued to be shut out and disregarded, especially by our city leaders and black faith leaders. Why? People have been too uncomfortable to talk about race.
“Long Beach, we need to learn to talk about race and address our challenged community. This needs to be a priority. We are in a critical time in our city’s and nation’s history, when our leaders and neighbors need to be bold and brave so that things can change to become more equitable around race and class.
“If residents don’t speak out, our public services will be cut in favor of more policing. We are also in a critical time in our education system. The gaps are widening more so now with the (coronavirus) pandemic.
“Long Beach residents have everything we need to solve the problems staring us in the face. But our institutional leaders need to listen more deeply to people’s anguish, call new people to the table and stretch themselves to be inclusive of all voices from a variety of income levels and education levels.
Original source: https://www.presstelegram.com/2020/06/05/long-beach-black-leaders-frustrated-angry/
