MARS HILL, N.C. — Professor Jonathan McCoy is looking at a quilt his mother sewed for him in his office.
“This [is] what she entitled her Black Lives Matter quilt,” McCoy said.
What You Need To Know
Tyre Nichols' death at the hands of Memphis police further underscores the need for changes, many claim
Vice President Kamala Harris and others are calling for the immediate passing of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
National Association of Police Organizations views the act as flawed, but says it wants to work on policies that restore trust
For McCoy, a professor of over 30 years, he says diversity, equity and inclusion are parts of his calling. He teaches history, and he is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Mars Hill University. He is also the vice president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe counties.
“It’s a calling of service and a service to others, but also how we can serve others to create a community where all is welcome,” McCoy said.
Like many, he sees the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act as something that would help spur that movement.
Last month, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by five Memphis police officers, and since then calls to pass the act have grown even louder, with a number of people, including Vice President Kamala Harris, saying it should be passed immediately.
“It’s trying to allow for better training, or more complete training, at all levels both federal, state and local,” McCoy said.
The act includes more training for police officers in subjects like excessive force, implicit bias, no-knock warrants and chokeholds.
The bill has stalled over debates about qualified immunity. But McCoy says the act is about addressing inequality with how Black and brown people are treated by police officers.
“There is really a need for this bill that the community feels, because it means that 'hey, we are addressing exactly what we’ve been talking about, equality and a chance for all people that are Americans, no matter their color, to be equally protected by the law and not victimized by it,'” McCoy said.
McCoy says if this bill doesn’t pass, another solution needs to proposed.
Spectrum News 1 reached out to several local police unions to gain their perspective on the bill, and none of them got back to us. But the National Association of Police Organizations responded and said:
“NAPO urges the president to recognize the justice in policing act for the flawed policy it is and move forward to working with law enforcement organizations and representatives on policies that will not only restore trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, but also restore the trust of our nation’s officers that their rights will not be trampled on for political expediency.”