As a place to provoke an honest and appropriate discussion of race in Williamson County, First Missionary Baptist Church made for a wisely considered choice.
Located near the traditionally African-American neighborhood of Natchez Street, on Thursday night the FMB organized and hosted Let’s Talk: Race Relations Discussion, which invited law enforcement and city of Franklin leaders to speak to the community.
From 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the discussion, moderated by Pastor Kenneth Hill, included: Chief of Police Deborah Faulkner, FPD, Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Long, Captain Mike Dobbins, Williamson County Jail Administrator, Eric Stuckey, City of Franklin administrator, Christian Lake, MTSU student, Pearl Bransford, councilperson at large.
“We are gathered here today to have a conversation, a civil conversation, about police community relations,” Hill said.
“I was a dear friend of Clementa Pinckney. so this conversation deeply affects me emotionally. That experience is with me. Policing in a constitutional democracy is not easy. You have to balance the needs of providing the public with safety against other values like personal liberty. Criminal procedures is a balancing act.”
He said that criminal procedure has really been a history of race relations and as a response to racial discrimination, from the 14th Amendment and Reconstruction to Jim Crow to Brown v. Board and the Civil Rights Act, to what is happening today.
Hill asked what is keeping Franklin from becoming the next Baltimore, or the next Ferguson?
“That is why are here,” he said. “It is an opportunity to begin a conversation.”
All those in attendance at the church were allowed to write out questions on index cards, for the panel members to look at if not answer all of them.
“Conversation is important, and I hope you know that we know that as well,” Faulkner told the assembled, packed pews of both black and white citizens at the church. “It is easy to earn your badge, I tell our recruits, but harder to wear it. It really is an awful time to be policing in our country. I can’t speak for . . . the other police departments where these things have happened or anywhere for that matter. This is a tragic time, and I believe we all have to pull together and not pull apart to get through it.”
“My focus is and will be what is just and right for the people of Franklin.”
She said she would work tirelessly to make sure her officers are the best trained and with clearly defined policies and procedures.
Sheriff Long, also, hit on policies and procedures, saying that in response to the police violence going on in the country, his department has responded.
“We have implemented anti-bias training and diversity training, because sometimes we might not even know we have a bias- we as people might have an unconscious bias,” he said. “We train methods for overcoming that. We also train our deputies to use the minimum- minimum– level of force, and that lethal force is only to be used in circumstances when it is absolutely necessary to protect someone from the risk of death. Also, we have implemented stress management and- this is something really important coming up on the horizon everywhere- de-escalation techniques.”
Most importantly, Long said, is having conversations like last night.
“The better we get to know each other the more we will respect each other,” he said. “The most important thing we can do is what we are doing right now. Keep lines of communication open. If you see something happening that is not right, I want and I expect you to pick up the telephone and let me know.”
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