On the same downtown block where Nashville police officers carried a young John Lewis by his hands and feet to a paddy wagon for daring to take a seat at a whites-only lunch counter decades ago, today’s fresh-faced police recruits are learning lessons about the fraught history between law enforcement and black Americans.
About 60 police hopefuls, many around the same age Lewis was when he emerged as a leader of the civil rights movement, gathered recently in the “Civil Rights Room” at Nashville’s main library. Dressed in plain blue uniforms, they listened to stories about Lewis and other college students who helped make Nashville the first Southern city to desegregate its lunch counters. Words Lewis uttered back then to urge his fellow students not to falter in the face of violence — “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” — were inscribed on the wall above the recruits.
As confrontations between police and the black community once again trigger public outcry, law enforcement leaders around the country are looking for new ways to restore trust. In Tennessee, they have turned to (continue reading)