'It's time to start doing': Springfield black leaders, police chief talk solutions

Harrison Keegan
Springfield News-Leader

Roger Franklin offered a message of exasperation Saturday during a meeting at Travellers Coffee and Tea in Springfield.

"I'm tired of talking," Franklin said. "I'm tired of praying. Now, it's time to start doing something."

Franklin is the founder of the Heart Church and Action Center, which plans to open a facility in Springfield at the end of the month. On Saturday, his group organized a meeting of faith leaders and city officials to discuss racism and how the community can move forward in the wake of the George Floyd death, which sparked protests across the country.

Police Chief Paul Williams and Springfield City Manager Jason Gage attended the nearly two-hour session where black community leaders discussed facing discrimination on Commercial Street and watching a friend be shot to death by police decades ago.

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White faith leaders, meanwhile, talked about understanding their own privilege and working to be "anti-racist."

Roger Franklin asks Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams a question during a roundtable discussion about racism at Travellers House Coffee & Tea on Saturday, June 6, 2020.

"I think it was productive," Franklin said of the meeting. "How I know it was productive is city leadership, management, said they want me to sit down with them on Tuesday and start the dialogue on possibly funding some program ideas I have and help them with some buildings they have that are vacant."

The consensus among the white and black community leaders who attended Saturday's event was that racism and police brutality seem to have entered the public consciousness in a lasting way because of the Floyd death last month in Minnesota.

The challenge, Franklin said, is using the momentum to effect change so that all is not forgotten six months from now.

Discussions like Saturday's meeting are a start, Franklin said, and there will be more like it.

On Saturday, Chief Williams said the Floyd death was a murder and that was obvious from video of the encounter that went viral, showing a white police officer placing his knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes.

Williams said his department does things like implicit bias training for its officers and looks to President Obama's 2017 Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommendations to improve relations between the department and minority citizens.

Williams said he appreciated being invited to the meeting and getting to hear the different perspectives.

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"Anybody that wants to get together and talk about solutions, I'm going to be there," Williams said. "I was encouraged by the conversation. I was heartened by the depth of thoughts, feelings and emotions."

Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams participates in a roundtable discussion about racism at Travellers House Coffee & Tea on Saturday, June 6, 2020.

Ryan Hill, 26, also attended Saturday's meeting. He's a pharmaceutical rep from St. Louis who moved to Springfield two years ago.

Hill said he has not found Springfield to be a particularly welcoming place for a black man.

"Every day I walk out of my house, people look at me different," Hill said, adding that he's heard similar things from other black people.

Hill said events like Saturday's roundtable discussion are crucial to help people in Springfield better understand one another and become more welcoming as a whole.

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Hill said he believes it would take a dismantling and rebuilding of the system to solve America's racism problems, but everything starts with people being moved to action in their own communities.

Wes Pratt, chief diversity officer at Missouri State University, participates in a roundtable discussion about racism at Travellers House Coffee & Tea on Saturday, June 6, 2020.

"We all need to come together and talk about it," Hill said. "We can't just be angry all the time, make a thousand posts on social media about it but nothing gets done, and a year from now we'll not even be talking about what's going on now. I think we need to start making change now."