My need was to move toward a dialogue (in other words healing) understanding and mutual respect. I am the mother of a cop. My son Ken moved up in the ranks of the NYPD froman officer on the beat to deputy inspector of New York Harbor, the harbor patrol. He was there at 9/11 to help bring some order into the chaos by boating people over to New Jersey.He had to take early retirement due to an injury on the job. He is ahero and I am so proud of him. So, like the mothers of black boys, I too want to end the violence, mistrust and fear. And I believe a good way to begin is by communicating.
So I took action, I paid a visit to my local police chief Vincent and OfficerMills,community organizer in Gulfport. The police Chief informed me that the program was already instituted and was a national program. I wondered why I hadn't heard of it being a civic minded,aware citizen.'When do you meet ?' I asked. 'Quarterly' he replied. I was surprised, thinking of weekly or monthly at the very least.'It depends... Talk to Officer Mills, that's his job.' Luckily I had already opened a conversation withOfficer Mills and he was on it. He was already setting up a location with a local restaurant for weekly talks. I was thrilled. Next comes marketing to raise awareness of what's going on in the 'hood'. This is a work in progress folks , stay tuned and more will be revealed. For myself I am happy that I took some time out of my bust life to communicate about something that I'm passionate about. And that's what 'Coffee witha Cop' is all about...
the beginning of healing. Amen
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