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Civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials found common ground in Houma Friday night, at the close of a week that has seen the nation rocked by tragedy and rancor as a result of police-related shootings in two cities and a massacre of law enforcement officers in another.
The Terrebonne NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, long seen as a conciliatory bridge between black Terrebonne residents and leaders in government and businesses, became a venue for expressions of unity in the community. They were evident in comments by the local organization’s president, Jerome Boykin, an unexpected speech by its national director, and words spoken by Terrebonne Sheriff Jerry Larpenter and Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Daren Ogletree of his agency’s New Orleans District office was among the guests seated at the dais, although he did not speak.
Nearly 24 hours before the event, gunfire claimed the lives of five Dallas police officers during a demonstration and march in that city protesting shooting deaths of black men in Baton Rouge and Minnesota earlier in the week, which have rekindled blistering national debate on relations between police and the communities they serve.
Cornell William Brooks, the NAACP’s national executive director, an unscheduled guest, had traveled to Louisiana for discussions and meetings in connection with the Tuesday death of Alton Sterling, a Baton Rouge man shot in the chest at point-blank range during a struggle with police officers attempting to arrest him. The case is being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, with assistance from the Louisiana State Police, and has prompted daily protests.
During his passionate impromptu address, Brooks praised the appearance of close ties between law enforcement and the local civil rights organization.
“At this moment when law enforcement has been called into question, the fact that we have the sheriff, the police department and the FBI here says something about the character of this community,” said Brooks, who also paid tribute to the officers slain in Dallas. “May I remind you that they lost their lives, they laid down their lives in the line of duty beside peaceful protesters protesting against police misconduct.”
Brooks made clear his belief that “now is the time” for communities to stand against police brutality making mention of his travels to console families in the wake of controversial shootings, including those of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in New York City and now Sterling.
“This represents a trying hour of this democracy,” Brooks said. “It is a moment in which we have seen across the length and breadth of this republic a seeming unrelenting series of civil rights challenges and police misconduct, tragedies, hashtag tragedies behind which are human beings, men and women … a series of civil rights tragedies.”
When Jerome Boykin came to the podium he cautioned against blanket condemnation of law enforcement, and raised an additional issue about violence not related to allegations of police misconduct.
“Most guys who wear the uniform are good, decent people who want to do their job right and go home to their family, but you have to understand you always have that small percentage in any organization of bad apples,” Boykin said. “Until we can have a good relationship between community and police, the killing will continue to happen. I know we talked about the killing that happened in Baton Rouge and Minnesota, but I also have another concern when it comes to black-on-black crime. It is serious in our community and all across this country.”
Houma and surrounding communities have seen a wave of street shootings that law enforcement officials say are linked to a burgeoning trade in heroin, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs.
Dana Coleman, Houma’s first black police chief, led a moment of silence dedicated to the dead from the previous week, and to those who have lost their lives through what he called senseless violence in this community, as well as the nation and throughout the world. The chief took a spiritual approach to current crises, drawing applause when he said that in such troubled times “the most valuable thing to have is a personal relationship with God.”
“As a nation we are hurting, as a nation we are heartbroken,” Coleman said. “Senseless violence regardless of what ground it is connected to, regardless of what character it encompasses, must stop. I challenge you to pray for the strength of our communities, to pray for the strength of our nation and pray for global strength during this trying time.”
Sheriff Jerry Larpenter used his time at the podium to press his message that love must triumph over hatred for peace to prevail in communities. After a few words reminding guests of the difficulties faced by police officers in their work, Larpenter told them of his commitment to keep his department free of officers who might do harm.
“Unless you walk in the shoes of a police officer nobody knows, really knows, what he or she has to go through, we need police officers, we need them,” Larpenter said, adding that “We need to live with one another instead of shooting one another.”
“We need to really admit there is a serious problem and get together and try to solve it,” Larpenter said, emphasizing that it is the responsibility of chief law enforcement officers like himself and Coleman to carefully choose officers and ensure that they have the public’s well-being at heart. “I will do everything I can, I have done everything I can along with the chief to make sure there are no idiots in our departments, to get rid of them … We have to make sure that these individuals have the right state of mind, for those carrying a gun and a badge, we need to make sure they don’t have hatred in their hearts, rather than God in their hearts.”
Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter and FBI Supervisory Special Agent Deron Ogletree of the agency’s New Orleans District Office, which covers all of Louisiana, at the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet in Houma Friday night.
