Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The relationships between the races – and between police and the people they’re supposed to protect – continue to generate sober conversation.
A year ago, a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Sonya Massey in her home just outside Springfield. That came a decade after a Ferguson, Mo., cop shot and killed Michael Brown. Ferguson commission member Bethany Johnson-Javois (pictured, left) was one of three from that St Louis area community presenting in Springfield Monday.
“Think about how you frame the desire for people to absorb he content of what you put out,” said Johnson-Javois. “We didn’t find it super helpful to say, read the report. This is a reflection of people’s pain and what they’ve been through. The least you can do is absorb the content of it.”
Meanwhile, citizen Ken Pacha told the members of the Massey commission they are in a no-win situation.
“The (Sangamon) County Board does not care,” Pacha told the commissioners and audience at the end of the roughly two-hour meeting. “I don’t know if you guys have been to one of their meetings, but they don’t care. It’s thirty minutes. They’re in and out. They don’t talk about anything that happens in this community. It’s insanely frustrating. They should already be cooking up the next round of funding to keep you guys going, right?”
Pacha accused county board chairman Andy Van Meter, who was not there Monday, of saying the Massey commission’s job is done.
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