The death of George Floyd has continued to spark conversation around police reform across the nation and in Mississippi. Last Summer, thousands gathered for a protest outside the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, calling for police reform, racial justice, and the removal of the state flag with its Confederate battle emblem. But many of the proters' demands are still unmet, says Von Gordon with The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. He says police reform can begin in Mississippi by providing law enforcement officers additional training.
“We know that in many spaces [police officers ]have been crying out for more support of a lot of different types, among it that type of [police] training,” says Gordon. “So when we make the commitment to give them all that they need, they will feel safer, and the communities that they police will feel safer.”
Advocates and protesters in Mississippi were successful in getting the state legislature to change the state flag last summer, and recently the governor signed a bill expanding parole eligibility. Leslie McLemore is a retired Professor at Jackson State University and a civil rights veteran. He says while a lot has changed, some of the same issues are still present.
“We have worked very hard to become first-class citizens. And to be in 2021 dealing with some of the same issues around voting, and around police brutality, it’s something that one would have assumed by now that we would have solved some of these problems,” says McLemore.
McLemore, who is now 80, is encouraging all people to come together and stand for racial justice.
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