KANSAS CITY, Mo. — "The talk" is a conversation that happens in most Black households, specifically with Black youth, about how to interact with police officers to survive.
An event at Calvary Temple Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, began Tuesday night by describing why those conversations happen.
"Who is talking to the cops? Who is talking to the policymakers? Who is talking to those who make the law? The people who should be prosecuting them? Too often — it's nobody," said Calvary Temple Baptist Church Pastor Eric Williams.
"14 lives: Addressing Fatal Police Encounters" is an art exhibit by Kansas City artist Jean McGuire.
It depicts the lives of 14 Black men and women, shot and killed by police in the United States, including Trayvon Martin, Cameron Lamb, and Donnie Sanders.
At one time, McGuire was told her art was "too controversial."
"When I put these up on my wall, people would cry," McGuire said. "That's how I knew I had to find other places to show them."
Calvary Temple Baptist Church is her first stop in what she hopes is a national showcase of these stories.
McGuire said: "These were all somebody's baby and we need to see them as that, not as victims."
Kansas City Police Department Major Kari Thompson, Rev. Vernon Howard, Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader, Rev. Rodney Williams from the NAACP, and the family of Cameron Lamb were at the exhibit for a panel discussion about police shootings.
They didn't dodge the hard questions asked by the community.
An attendee described being profiled by a police officer for the car she was driving.
She said: "I had that 'talk' about how to talk to them, so I'm interested…how is that progressing, the sensitivity training?"
Maj. Kari Thompson said part of the training includes how to be empathetic, to think about the family, the victim, and the person at the car stop.
"How would you like your family member to be spoken to?" she said. "A lot of them are doing a good job. A lot of them are not."
While "the talk" is usually a conversation, the audience at Calvary Temple Baptist Church hopes one day, from law enforcement on down, it becomes more than lip service.
McGuire said: I’m a mother. I’m a grandmother. All of them [victims] had mothers. Relating from the point of the mothers standing up in anguish — we don’t want any more if we can help it."
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KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Prairie Village and Leawood. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
