A Mississippi school teacher says she'll be at the State Capitol for the next two weeks protesting the shootings of black men by police officers. MPB's Desare Frazier reports.
"It is definitely an attack going on black men and it's not just police on black. It's black on black," said Hamlin.
Jackson School Teacher Alboni Hamlin has a three-year old son. She says the shootings of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota, made her want to speak out. She's also concerned about black men killing each other.
"We need some very prominent leaders come in, stand up, teach our youth, help our youth, rebuild our communities and show that we do care about life," said Hamlin.
A small group of Mississippians joined Hamlin at the state capitol Friday, to protest police-involved shootings. Veronica Wylie, a minister, came from Hazlehurst.
"Just about every person I believe know, every black person I've ever met has had some sort of interaction with the police, where there was this moment of am I ever going to make it out of this? said Wylie.
Antonio Cummings, a security officer says the killings of five police officers in Dallas, isn't the solution.
"Everyone's going to have their different views, different opinions and everything, but we have to find a common ground. We have to find a common ground and one that we can stick to," said Cummings.
Chief Joey East is head of the Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police. He's urging people to let the Department of Justice and the FBI investigate the police involved shootings. East is concerned about how it's impacting all officers.
"It is horrible that law enforcement has over 700,000 police officers and they're being painted with a wide brush that they're all corrupt and racist," said East.
Chief East says they work to identify overly aggressive police officers. He added they need lawmakers to provide more funding for training and to upgrade salaries.
