COMMUNITY HISTORY
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Professor Jennifer Tilton, Redlands University, Professor of Race and Ethnic Studies and Author of the research on the left. (click on research image for full article)
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NEWS ARTICLES
How the Redlands police and clergy are uniting the community
By SANDRA EMERSON | semerson@scng.com |
October 8, 2017 at 8:00 a.m.Without unity, there cannot be community — that’s the founding principle behind the Redlands Police Department’s Clergy Advisory Council, a group of faith-based community leaders who advise Chief Mark Garcia on issues that come up in their congregations and the community.
“It gives us an ear, but it also gives him an ear for what we receive,” said Pastor Anthony Green, who is a member of the advisory council with his wife, Bishop Jackie Green, both of Second Baptist Church, Pastor Donald Robinson with the Community Missionary Baptist Church of Redlands and Pastor Felix Roger Jones III of All People Unity Baptist Church.
“Just being able to have the wisdom they have to advise me on things going on in the community, not even necessarily based on race, but what are good positive practices … it’s great to have that kind of brain trust accessible to me on a regular basis,” Garcia said.
The council formed out of the Unity in the Community partnership between clergy leaders, the Police Department, University of Redlands and local schools, which aims to improve relations between police and people of color in the community. “It came out of the Black Lives Matter issues of just a disproportion of justice,” said Pastor Anthony Green. “We wanted to prevent the calamity in Redlands. We wanted to be ahead of the game.”
Since then, the partnership has led to the creation of a video highlighting the “do’s and don’ts” for those stopped by the police, which has been well received by local congregations, according to the pastors. Other initiatives have grown out of the Unity in the Community meetings via the Police department, including the youth leadership and cooking with a cop programs, Garcia said.
“Even things that aren’t directly tied to Unity in the Community have been born out of discussions we’ve had on how do you do trust-building exercises,” Garcia said. “I’ve really valued what this partnership has brought.” For Jones, the mission to create unity in town takes him back to the creation of the Cops and Clergy Network, an organization he co-founded with former Redlands police Chief Jim Bueermann in 1982.
The Cops and Clergy Network’s annual Faith and Justice Summit brings together clergy, law enforcement personnel, government officials, civic and charitable organizations and the public for a day of workshops and dialogue on issues affecting public safety and communities.“Our strategic purpose is to bring together physical civil authority and spiritual authority for the common good of our children, churches and community,” Jones said. “We’ve been striving at unity in the community as part of our values.”
The partnership between the clergy and police, however, goes both ways. Not only do the pastors have a direct line to the police chief, but the police can rely on the pastors to help quell potentially disruptive situations. “So when certain things have gone on in the community, I’ve been called to kind of help de-escalate rather than escalate matters,” Jones said. “It has been successful in this community and others where that type of thing is happening.”
Garcia recalled a recent incident between two groups with different racial backgrounds at a school campus. The department called on Green to help, he said. “Sometimes people just react to police — whether we have good relationships or not — they react when they’re with a group sometimes,” Garcia said. “A pastor can come in and know a couple people in the group and calm them right back down and do it in ways sometimes we can’t.”
While the initiative came out of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the social justice issues it seeks to expose and repair, Green said, the hostility sometimes present in the national debate is not present within his own congregation.
“There is a belief in law enforcement still, and that’s from history as well as from present living,” he said. “We see officers. Some of our congregants are officers. We’ve also partnered with them in community activities, so it works.”
Prior to forming Unity in the Community and the advisory council, Second Baptist Church was already working with the Redlands Police Department.
The two organizations, along with the city, sponsor the Midnight Hoops program at the Redlands Community Center, where youth get an opportunity to play basketball with law enforcement personnel.
“It allows people who would normally not be near a cop, to not run from a cop, not fear being in the presence of law enforcement, but to recognize they’re there for you,” Green said. The partnership will also bring more awareness to African-American culture in Redlands, Green said. They are currently working on plans for a Juneteenth celebration in 2018, which will also pay tribute to Israel Beal, Redlands first African-American pioneer.
It will be “a celebration that Redlands is more than one color or more than one culture,” Green said.
Robinson, who moved to Redlands nearly three years ago, said he is happy to have come together with the other pastors and chief on these issues.“I’m learning about Redlands, but what I’ve learned about it is we call it the Beverly Hills of San Bernardino County,” he said. “We look at being in a very awesome place and why should we be divided? Because guess what? We are all in this together.”
By SANDRA EMERSON | semerson@scng.com |
October 8, 2017 at 8:00 a.m.Without unity, there cannot be community — that’s the founding principle behind the Redlands Police Department’s Clergy Advisory Council, a group of faith-based community leaders who advise Chief Mark Garcia on issues that come up in their congregations and the community.
“It gives us an ear, but it also gives him an ear for what we receive,” said Pastor Anthony Green, who is a member of the advisory council with his wife, Bishop Jackie Green, both of Second Baptist Church, Pastor Donald Robinson with the Community Missionary Baptist Church of Redlands and Pastor Felix Roger Jones III of All People Unity Baptist Church.
“Just being able to have the wisdom they have to advise me on things going on in the community, not even necessarily based on race, but what are good positive practices … it’s great to have that kind of brain trust accessible to me on a regular basis,” Garcia said.
The council formed out of the Unity in the Community partnership between clergy leaders, the Police Department, University of Redlands and local schools, which aims to improve relations between police and people of color in the community. “It came out of the Black Lives Matter issues of just a disproportion of justice,” said Pastor Anthony Green. “We wanted to prevent the calamity in Redlands. We wanted to be ahead of the game.”
Since then, the partnership has led to the creation of a video highlighting the “do’s and don’ts” for those stopped by the police, which has been well received by local congregations, according to the pastors. Other initiatives have grown out of the Unity in the Community meetings via the Police department, including the youth leadership and cooking with a cop programs, Garcia said.
“Even things that aren’t directly tied to Unity in the Community have been born out of discussions we’ve had on how do you do trust-building exercises,” Garcia said. “I’ve really valued what this partnership has brought.” For Jones, the mission to create unity in town takes him back to the creation of the Cops and Clergy Network, an organization he co-founded with former Redlands police Chief Jim Bueermann in 1982.
The Cops and Clergy Network’s annual Faith and Justice Summit brings together clergy, law enforcement personnel, government officials, civic and charitable organizations and the public for a day of workshops and dialogue on issues affecting public safety and communities.“Our strategic purpose is to bring together physical civil authority and spiritual authority for the common good of our children, churches and community,” Jones said. “We’ve been striving at unity in the community as part of our values.”
The partnership between the clergy and police, however, goes both ways. Not only do the pastors have a direct line to the police chief, but the police can rely on the pastors to help quell potentially disruptive situations. “So when certain things have gone on in the community, I’ve been called to kind of help de-escalate rather than escalate matters,” Jones said. “It has been successful in this community and others where that type of thing is happening.”
Garcia recalled a recent incident between two groups with different racial backgrounds at a school campus. The department called on Green to help, he said. “Sometimes people just react to police — whether we have good relationships or not — they react when they’re with a group sometimes,” Garcia said. “A pastor can come in and know a couple people in the group and calm them right back down and do it in ways sometimes we can’t.”
While the initiative came out of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the social justice issues it seeks to expose and repair, Green said, the hostility sometimes present in the national debate is not present within his own congregation.
“There is a belief in law enforcement still, and that’s from history as well as from present living,” he said. “We see officers. Some of our congregants are officers. We’ve also partnered with them in community activities, so it works.”
Prior to forming Unity in the Community and the advisory council, Second Baptist Church was already working with the Redlands Police Department.
The two organizations, along with the city, sponsor the Midnight Hoops program at the Redlands Community Center, where youth get an opportunity to play basketball with law enforcement personnel.
“It allows people who would normally not be near a cop, to not run from a cop, not fear being in the presence of law enforcement, but to recognize they’re there for you,” Green said. The partnership will also bring more awareness to African-American culture in Redlands, Green said. They are currently working on plans for a Juneteenth celebration in 2018, which will also pay tribute to Israel Beal, Redlands first African-American pioneer.
It will be “a celebration that Redlands is more than one color or more than one culture,” Green said.
Robinson, who moved to Redlands nearly three years ago, said he is happy to have come together with the other pastors and chief on these issues.“I’m learning about Redlands, but what I’ve learned about it is we call it the Beverly Hills of San Bernardino County,” he said. “We look at being in a very awesome place and why should we be divided? Because guess what? We are all in this together.”
REDLANDS DAILY FACTS, AUGUST 22, 2020
Here’s how Redlands is working to root out racism
A virtual roundtable to address concerns of youth in the community is next up
Black Lives Matter protesters turn out in mass numbers during a rally at Ed Hales Park in Redlands on Saturday, June 6, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
By JENNIFER IYER | jiyer@scng.com | Redlands Daily Facts
PUBLISHED: August 22, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 22, 2020 at 8:01 a.m.
Even with protesters in the streets demanding equality, the City Council declaring racism a public health crisis, and students and alumni calling for social justice from local educational institutions, change in Redlands likely will be slow going, some advocates say.
Undaunted, a group of pastors, police, community leaders and educators is starting a movement to root out racism in the city.
The work requires history lessons and energy, and safe places where people can speak freely, said Bishop Jackie Green with Second Baptist Church of Redlands, one of the leaders of Unity in the Community, a group spearheading a series of roundtable meetings on issues brought to light by the national unrest that followed the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody in May.
The group’s work in Redlands, Green said, will likely take years.
The first change she would like to see here, she said, is “awareness of one another.” Residents from all backgrounds have more in common than they realize, she said.
“We’re all human, we all have needs, we all want the best for our children, we want to live in safety. We want justice,” she added. “It doesn’t matter what color you are, we all want justice.”
The group supports the Police Department, she said, but accountability is also important.
“We are talking (with the department), and that’s important to keep our conversation going, regarding justice and safety, and not having our kids afraid if they are getting stopped by the police, or questioned by the police,” Green said. “Police are there to help. They should be there to help.”
While the coronavirus pandemic limits the options for advocates to come together to discuss such issues, it has also magnified the inequality, said Mario Saucedo, another leader with Unity in the Community.
Some “don’t have adequate housing, adequate access to equal education, fair wages to sustain themselves through the pandemic,” Saucedo said. The pandemic is hitting harder “single parents, and those folks who have to go to work because they need a paycheck.”
The group, formed in 2016, delved into these issues with a virtual roundtable in July focused on the city’s faith community.
“We know racism is in the churches, it’s been there, and we’re at a place where we need to recognize that, and we have to begin the conversation with them,” Green said.
Another reason for starting the conversation there is because “as faith leaders, we need to set the example,” she said.
Saucedo said he hopes faith-based organizations can provide a safe place to have conversations about race.
Though no date has been set for it yet, the group’s second roundtable will focus on younger members of the community.
Green said she would like to see more ethnic studies classes in local schools and more people of color hired as educators.
“My children grew up in Redlands and they rarely had a black teacher,” Green said. “Finally my grandson had a black principal.”
University of Redlands alumni have petitioned for similar changes, as have students, graduates and community members at Redlands Unified school board meetings over the past month.
At the Aug. 11 meeting, Superintendent Mauricio Arellano thanked the speakers for “challenging the district to continue to move forward.”
District spokesperson MaryRoneShell said in an email that the district has been offering equity-related training for several years, and one of the district’s goals is to implement programs that foster social and cultural understanding.
The district’s goal, she said “is not to be reactive, but to respond thoughtfully and empathetically to our community who has faced challenges and obstacles. We know that they want very much to be agents of positive change.”
At the Aug. 11 meeting, Arellano said there is still much work to do.
Juneteenth celebration brings together Redlands history, community
“Is our work done? Absolutely not,” he said. “… I want our community to know that we’ve been going down this path for two years, and they’re asking us not to stop, and we won’t.”
Saucedo said Unity in the Community targeted its second roundtable on the city’s youth because of their energy.
“Not just young minority kids, but all kids, all races, all backgrounds, are seeing what has been peeled back, as far as imbalances in equity,” Saucedo said. “We see a good energy in the young people that are coming up.”
To see change you also need the wisdom of those who have been on the front lines for a while, Green said.
“Generations coming together,” she said, “it’s going to take all of us.”
For more information about the roundtable meetings, Contact Unity In The Community.
Here’s how Redlands is working to root out racism
A virtual roundtable to address concerns of youth in the community is next up
Black Lives Matter protesters turn out in mass numbers during a rally at Ed Hales Park in Redlands on Saturday, June 6, 2020. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
By JENNIFER IYER | jiyer@scng.com | Redlands Daily Facts
PUBLISHED: August 22, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 22, 2020 at 8:01 a.m.
Even with protesters in the streets demanding equality, the City Council declaring racism a public health crisis, and students and alumni calling for social justice from local educational institutions, change in Redlands likely will be slow going, some advocates say.
Undaunted, a group of pastors, police, community leaders and educators is starting a movement to root out racism in the city.
The work requires history lessons and energy, and safe places where people can speak freely, said Bishop Jackie Green with Second Baptist Church of Redlands, one of the leaders of Unity in the Community, a group spearheading a series of roundtable meetings on issues brought to light by the national unrest that followed the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody in May.
The group’s work in Redlands, Green said, will likely take years.
The first change she would like to see here, she said, is “awareness of one another.” Residents from all backgrounds have more in common than they realize, she said.
“We’re all human, we all have needs, we all want the best for our children, we want to live in safety. We want justice,” she added. “It doesn’t matter what color you are, we all want justice.”
The group supports the Police Department, she said, but accountability is also important.
“We are talking (with the department), and that’s important to keep our conversation going, regarding justice and safety, and not having our kids afraid if they are getting stopped by the police, or questioned by the police,” Green said. “Police are there to help. They should be there to help.”
While the coronavirus pandemic limits the options for advocates to come together to discuss such issues, it has also magnified the inequality, said Mario Saucedo, another leader with Unity in the Community.
Some “don’t have adequate housing, adequate access to equal education, fair wages to sustain themselves through the pandemic,” Saucedo said. The pandemic is hitting harder “single parents, and those folks who have to go to work because they need a paycheck.”
The group, formed in 2016, delved into these issues with a virtual roundtable in July focused on the city’s faith community.
“We know racism is in the churches, it’s been there, and we’re at a place where we need to recognize that, and we have to begin the conversation with them,” Green said.
Another reason for starting the conversation there is because “as faith leaders, we need to set the example,” she said.
Saucedo said he hopes faith-based organizations can provide a safe place to have conversations about race.
Though no date has been set for it yet, the group’s second roundtable will focus on younger members of the community.
Green said she would like to see more ethnic studies classes in local schools and more people of color hired as educators.
“My children grew up in Redlands and they rarely had a black teacher,” Green said. “Finally my grandson had a black principal.”
University of Redlands alumni have petitioned for similar changes, as have students, graduates and community members at Redlands Unified school board meetings over the past month.
At the Aug. 11 meeting, Superintendent Mauricio Arellano thanked the speakers for “challenging the district to continue to move forward.”
District spokesperson MaryRoneShell said in an email that the district has been offering equity-related training for several years, and one of the district’s goals is to implement programs that foster social and cultural understanding.
The district’s goal, she said “is not to be reactive, but to respond thoughtfully and empathetically to our community who has faced challenges and obstacles. We know that they want very much to be agents of positive change.”
At the Aug. 11 meeting, Arellano said there is still much work to do.
Juneteenth celebration brings together Redlands history, community
“Is our work done? Absolutely not,” he said. “… I want our community to know that we’ve been going down this path for two years, and they’re asking us not to stop, and we won’t.”
Saucedo said Unity in the Community targeted its second roundtable on the city’s youth because of their energy.
“Not just young minority kids, but all kids, all races, all backgrounds, are seeing what has been peeled back, as far as imbalances in equity,” Saucedo said. “We see a good energy in the young people that are coming up.”
To see change you also need the wisdom of those who have been on the front lines for a while, Green said.
“Generations coming together,” she said, “it’s going to take all of us.”
For more information about the roundtable meetings, Contact Unity In The Community.