In light of recent events both locally and nationally, Nashville’s Community Oversight Board’s (COB) staff, Metro Nashville Community Oversight (MNCO), expresses that in times like this it is important to unite as a community and collaboratively work towards accountability, transparency, trust and most importantly, healing.
The past few weeks have shown us again how biases and mistrust can cause instant trauma, chaos and grievance within our communities. In particular, the Black community is devastated and traumatized by the seemingly unyielding acts of aggression and violence.
Many members of racially diverse communities are feeling both frustrated and exhausted as the images and stories of brutality are growing by the day and the voices of this community continues to be silenced or ignored. When those feelings are not respected and followed by meaningful policies and sustainable solutions the underlying and systemic problems fester and all of this results in the large gatherings and riots seen in cities like Minneapolis and Louisville. The frustration that racially diverse community members in these cities feel are real and these feelings are compounded by the tethered and fraught relationship they have with law enforcement officers.
Nashville has the opportunity to do things differently. Our city can hold itself accountable and be transparent in our dealings with the community by collaborating with the COB and funding the tools necessary to aid the healing trust between Nashville’s communities of color and law enforcement.
The COB exists not to merely be reactive but to proactively work with Metro leaders and officials to identify the sustainable solutions necessary to ensure every single Nashville resident feels secure and knows that their identity will not be used as rationale for extraordinarily, unfair or aggressive treatment. Nashville has an opportunity to do things differently, but this opportunity requires investment and the funding of body worn cameras is a critical step in the right direction. We cannot stand to wait for funding that supports a full deployment of the very tool that heightens the safety of Nashville residents and late enforcement alike.
It is the MNCO’s hope that Nashville takes this time to learn from what’s happening around the nation and begin to work proactively towards solutions to the concerns of the community.