Name:   copperline - Subject:   Quote of the day, maybe the year or decade Date:   6/29/2016 6:42:41 PM

A partial quote from Mobile Police Chief James Barber in a letter to his staff and the City of Mobile:

“To build on the words of Bill Bratton, the police commissioner from New York City, we must learn to "see" each other for who we are as people. We all need to "see" beyond the color of skin and "see" each other as people from each other's perspective. We in law enforcement should understand what it is like to be a law abiding citizen that lives in a high crime neighborhood that is under the scrutiny of the police from their eyes. And we in law enforcement should understand what a young man of color feels when he sees a patrol car turn onto his street. But we as a country and as a community should also learn to "see" what the police see through the windshields of our cars as we patrol our neighborhoods. And we as a country and a community should learn to "see" what the police see within the crime scene tape. If we as a country and a community can truly learn to "see" each other, new thinking will begin. Suspicion will give way to understanding, myths will give way to facts, mistrust will give way to trust, and hatred will give way to respect. For if we truly learn to "see" each other I believe that what we will "see" is our neighbor. I believe what we will "see" are our brothers and sisters in God. And I believe that what we will "see" when we look beyond the color of skin is that we are all more alike than we are different.

 I am appealing for all of us to not allow those that seek to divide us to succeed and that we all stop and take the time to truly "see" each other. Let us move forward and not concentrate on the mistakes of the past but rather look forward toward the promise of the future.”

This impressed me as worth sharing.