‘Community Conversation’ series begins with discussion on law enforcement, violence

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids is in trouble, but it's not drowning yet.

This is a sentiment that Anthony Arrington, a Cedar Rapids native, emphasized Saturday in his opening statement while serving on a panel discussing law enforcement and violence in the city.

Panelist Ruth White, a Cedar Rapids resident and longtime educator, also spoke to this theme.

'We are not in such bad shape, yet ... It's important that we intervene at this point,” she told an audience gathering at Coe College.

The panel, moderated by Safe, Equitable and Thriving Task Force member Karl Cassell, is the first of a three-part Community Conversations series aiming to engage the community as a whole and address possible solutions regarding violence, affordable housing and education.

The 19-member SET Task Force was formed after a rash of teen shootings in the city. It issued a report in February that examined causes of youth gun violence. Among its recommendations was to provide professional development for law enforcement to improve intercultural relations.

Nearly 40 people gathered at Coe College on Saturday morning for a conversation that focuses on law enforcement and public safety.

Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker, a co-leader of the SET Task Force, asked the audience to keep in mind how law enforcement fits into the larger puzzle of what creates a safe, equitable and thriving community. He also asked that when discussing violence, 'keep in mind that these things don't get solved overnight.”

Topics posed to the panelists included the trust between law enforcement and communities of color, community policing, cycles of violence created within communities of color and progress in Cedar Rapids.

In addition to White and Arrington, the panel consisted of Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman, Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Doug Doyle and Cedar Rapids resident Bernard Clayton.

One solution White emphasized throughout the conversation is education.

'If we have young people who are not educated, they are more likely to go down the wrong path,” White said. 'If you are a person of color and you step off that path, the likelihood of your getting back on it is not great.

'We need to make sure our young people are cocooned with positivity and with education.”

Policy was emphasized by Clayton, Jerman and Doyle.

Clayton said he believes it begins with politics, transitions to policy and moves toward prevention.

'We believe prevention is cheaper than responses,” Clayton said, comparing the solution to treating symptoms before they happen.

Clayton also touched on an issue he thinks is plaguing the country as a whole.

'You have to admit where there's some progress being made,” Clayton said. 'But the biggest thing that needs to happen is if you look at all the black people in this room, the underlying problem is we are not truly citizens of this country.

'If black people of this country can have full citizenship of this country, many issues we face will go away. And the ugly word racism? That, too.”

Throughout the nearly two-hour discussion, panelists weighed questions from the audience, including what happens moving forward and who is affected.

Several panelists stressed that the conversation was not about black people hating white people.

'This is about law enforcement,” Arrington said, and about addressing violence.

'All violence is bad, I'm not trying to be anti-nothing,” Clayton said. 'But you cannot (compare) police violence or violence against black people with interracial violence in the community.

'All violence is bad, but we have to be careful not to (mix) things together.”

Jerman said that while the Cedar Rapids police meet the recommendations posed by the task force, the department will continue to work achieve the more individual action items.

'To achieve those is our goal,” Jerman said. '(We want to) keep going in a positive direction and have positive change.”

Mari Davis. a Cedar Rapids landlord and Realtor, said she attended the panel Saturday because she understands the correlation between crime and how that translates into housing, stability and safety.

Community Conversations will continue July 15 and Aug. 12 and will be held at the Cedar Rapids Public Library, according to Mary Wilcynski, co-leader of the SET Task Force.

l Comments: (319) 368-8531; alexandra.connor@thegazette.com