Dr. Cliff Moon facilitated a breakout session on education, one of several breakout sessions at the forum facilited by experts and leaders in their respective fields.
Story and photos by Floyd Alvin Galloway
The controversial deaths of Black men in St. Paul and Baton Rouge, and the murders of police officers in Dallas and most recently in Baton Rouge, have concerned citizens seeking to develop solutions that will make a difference and prevent similar incidents in the future. More than 300 community members, religious leaders, law enforcement and elected officials came together July 12, at Impacted for Purpose Church in east Mesa to work together. Coming together under the theme, “Unarmed: Valley Voices on Deadly Force,” the forum followed several Valley rallies, protests concerning, not only the previous week’s tragedies, but also a systemic problem between the justice system in this country and the Black community. It’s a problem that has existed for decades, but has hit every in the eye because of new technology, camera phones and social media.
Hosted by Impacted for Purpose Church and Diamond Strategies LLC, the community forum and call to action, had participants divide into several sub-groups following presentations by facilitators and community leaders. The working groups consisted of community empowerment, education and awareness, civil rights advocacy, faith-based advocacy, youth-family-bridge building, and political awareness and action. The were seeking effective non-violent solutions to preserve the lives of young black boys and black men, and inoculate the community from violent conflict, noted organizers.
A large and diverse crowd of more than 300 community members, religious leaders, law enforcement and elected officials came together on July 12 in east Mesa to discuss the systemic problem between the justice system in this country and the Black community.
“The point of the forum was to get people involved from different communities. So people were here from Gilbert, Phoenix, Laveen, Mesa, Chandler, and other cities. So I feel we were really successful in gathering a diverse constituents from around the Valley and really pulling together what our purpose is in reducing police excessive force in our community,” said Rev. Lovelle McMichael Sr., Impacted for Purpose senior pastor.
Each of the working groups developed points of actions specific to their area. McMichael said they will collate those ideas and sending them to everyone that registered for the forum. After which they will reconvene forum so the small working groups will come together to do the follow-up for action.
Members of several Valley police departments attended the forum. “We had the Chief of Mesa, Chandler, representatives from Tempe, Gilbert, so I think we did a good job in pulling together some of the East Valley police departments.” Along with law enforcement representation, community leaders from the East Valley NAACP, Mesa MLK Committee, Black Lives Matter – Phoenix, representatives from various municipalities, school board members and fraternities and sororities attended the forum included.
Rev. Lovelle McMichael Sr., senior pastor of Impacted for Purpose, the host for the forum, believed the event was successful in gathering diverse constituents from around the Valley to explore ideas to improve police/community relations.
Wallace Berry, a chef in the East Valley, a native of Pennsylvania, which she dubbed the Mississippi of the north, because of it racism and discrimination, says the ills of racism is alive and well everywhere, but in some places not as extreme. “In Pennsylvania you lived where you lived according to your ethnicity. Here you live according to your income.”
“It was a good meeting, good dialog. Something we’ve been doing in Mesa for a longtime. It was a great opportunity to have a constructive dialogue on what can we do, what the community can do, because we have to do it together. It’s not one-sided. It’s everyone working together,” said Mike Solberg, assistant chief Mesa Police Department
Gilbert resident, Denise Tribble-Smith, who came to support a friend and to see what she could do to make a better community, felt the forum was exceedingly productive and brought her daughter along to be a part of the discussion and solutions building. “Tonight was so riveting and exciting, because it is time for us to move forward, to move on and some have solutions and tonight was a solutions-based meeting that our community needed,” said Smith, Sigma Gamma Rho president and Mesa MLK vice-president.
Her daughter Taylor, 17, wished more high school aged youth were in attendance, but was also happy to be apart of the forum. She hopes information on future forums will reach more youth. “It was great to be a representative and to put my input out there on what needs to be changed,” noted the young leader, who is president Rhoer Club president- junior sorority under Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.