
My father was a police officer.
In fact, he wasn’t just any police officer. He eventually became the First Black Police Chief in Omaha, Nebraska; a place later deemed most dangerous in the US for black people. (per capita)
We lived next door to another police officer, a black woman who worked as a detective. As a family, my siblings and I were taken under the wing of a cohort of police officers – both men and women – who all looked exactly like us…. black.
This was my view of the police growing up. My vision. Seeing my father and his police friends in their uniforms work off-duty as security for the rivalry basketball games in the community. Seeing my father and his police friends coach countless inner-city little league teams on the weekends. Seeing my father and his police friends come up with initiative after initiative to keep kids off the streets.
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