A special Smart Talk on police shootings and racial mistrust
Police tape marks off the area where a shooting took place in downtown Dallas, Friday, July 8, 2016. Snipers opened fire on police officers in the heart of Dallas during protests over two recent fatal police shootings of black men. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
What to look for on Smart Talk Monday, July 11, 2016:
Last week had the feel of late 1960s America when the nation was torn apart — often violently — by racial strife, assassinations and the Vietnam War. The country was in the midst of great upheaval and change.
Almost 50 years later, one has to wonder has much has changed.
The shootings of two black men — one in Louisiana and another in Minnesota — by police were the latest in a string of violent confrontations between police and African-American men over the past two years. With each one, the mistrust between the black community and law enforcement seems to get wider.
Then last Thursday night, a sniper shot and killed five police officers and wounded seven others in Dallas — just blocks from where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 — another reminder of the volatile 1960s.
A sense of sadness, anger and fear has spread over the country and left many asking when does it all end, how do we stop the violence and bridge the gap between the races and especially blacks and police.
We’ll investigate those questions on Monday’s Smart Talk.
Our panel includes:
Ophelia Chambliss, First Vice President of the York NAACP
Rev. Nathaniel Gadsden, Community Impact Manager for the United Way of the Capital Region
Dr. Jonathan Lee, an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Penn State Harrisburg
Rob Martin, Director of Public Safety for Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County
Dr. Rita Shah, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Elizabethtown College.
After the show, our guests continued the discussion on Facebook live.
