COLUMBUS, Ind. — An eight-member panel discussion originally designed to give residents an overview of law enforcement and judicial policies and procedures evolved into a lively conversation about race, minorities’ fear of police and youth in the court system.
The only glaring weakness in the event Tuesday at The Commons, as panelist and Pastor James Wood saw it, was the crowd: 22 people, and several of them directly affiliated with the topic, such as Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton. There were others in attendance with an indirect link, such as former Columbus police officer James Harris.
“The people who really need to be here aren’t here,” Wood said, referring to those who don’t understand how the legal system works yet sometimes complain about police or courts. Wood, one of eight panelists, represented the local African American Pastors Alliance. That group regularly meets with leaders from those involved in everything from schools to media to encourage fairness to minorities.
With the smaller attendance in mind, moderator and Bishop Johnnie Edwards, president of the organizing Columbus/Bartholomew County Area Chapter of the NAACP, said before the two-hour gathering finished that there would be another such discussion soon — and one which ideally would unfold where people more naturally gather.
Panelist Lindsey Holden-Kay, a candidate for Bartholomew County prosecutor, suggested that “it’s time for us as leaders in this community or as elected officials to go to them. Maybe it’s time for us to go to a predominantly African American church or an NAACP meeting or some event.”
In the past, even those attempts sometimes have yielded smaller crowds. On Jan. 20, 2020, when a somewhat similar gathering dealing with challenges of Black residents unfolded on the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Calvary Community Church, an assembly with a mostly Black membership, fewer than 20 people attended.
The Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative program sponsored the latest discussion with the NAACP.
For the complete story, see Thursday’s Republic.
