By Quick to Listen | Listen | 56m
Published in June of 2020
SUMMARY: Aaron L. Griffith, assistant professor of history at Sattler College in Boston, discusses the history of policing and the intertwining of evangelical’s support of law and order presidential candidates. Griffith also dives into what we can do to change by examining our motives, terms to be wary of and that we have to admit that we expect too much of the police which is a failure of how we have setup our society.
KEY QUOTE: “We have to reckon with ourselves and with our society. We demand too much of our police. We ask them to be things they are not trained to be. We want them to be social workers. We want them to be mental health workers. We want them to be school resources. That’s not what they are trained to do, but they have to do it because we have divested from the kinds of programs and shared practices of common life that could enrich our communities, particularly those that are vulnerable. We as a society are to blame. And I say this to my white evangelical white brothers and sisters we are not capable of speaking in critical ways about our own propensities towards violence, endorsement of state power and our inability to see social change is happening in more constructive ways. It goes beyond the individual intentions of a single police officer – it is our story.”
More curated podcasts on policing:
PODCAST: Force for Good?
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PODCAST: Pastors on Policing
From body cams to why pastors should have a conversation about policing to qualified immunity to the militarization of the police pastors Louis Love and Thabiti Anyabwile engage in a wide range of topics related to policing in America. Engaging, thought provoking and informative. Start at 5:45 to get to the conversation.
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PODCAST: Policing with Chief Allen Banks
In a sincere, hopeful conversation Round Rock (Texas) police chief Allen Banks talks about his implementation of community policing in Round Rock, why the police shouldn’t be the first responders for everything, policing training, diversity in police hiring, how to create equitable and safe communities and much more. If you want to know how a community is changing policing right now, then this is the podcast for you.
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