‘What we need to do is love one another’: Sheboygan Black-American Community Outreach and police department emphasize unity
SHEBOYGAN - In 2020, in the midst of mass demonstrations for racial justice and against police brutality across the country, leaders from Sheboygan’s Black-American Community Outreach, the city and police department “defied the nation’s climate at that time” to come together, Michael Thomas, president of Black-American Community Outreach, said at last year’s Walk for Unity.
“Instead of focusing on what divides us, come together for what unites us,” Thomas said. “We don’t need to look the same, or talk the same, think the same or even be from the same place.
“What we need to do is love one another, embrace each other, engage and encourage collaboration, communication and community,” he said.
The Third Annual Walk for Unity and community barbecue, organized by BACO and the police department, is this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A walk from Fountain Park to Peace Park, which will feature a handful of speakers, will be followed by the free community barbecue with family-friendly activities at Fountain Park.
“Everybody should just come have food and be united as one,” Thomas said. “We’re all human, we’re all Sheboyganites, we’re just going to love on each other.”
More: Black Sheboygan residents share their experiences and hopes for change
For Kurt Zempel, a Sheboygan police captain, the annual event is a way to show that people in the community can overcome differences and work together to make sure people are safe and treated fairly, he said.
“People think of police-community relations as this monolith or singular thing, and it’s not," Zempel said. "It’s really about how we (police) treat people individually every day. It’s how we work with people to confront and solve problems — and that can be as simple as how people drive, or the condition of their property, all those kinds of things.”
There has been a lot of positive change in how the Sheboygan Police Department provides services and builds relationships with residents since it went through a shift about a decade ago, he said.
At that time, the department mapped the city into neighborhoods and began focusing on how police can be responsive to the problems residents experience in those areas.
“Prior to that, I think we were more reactive,” Zempel said. “Since then, we’ve changed to recognize that we’re just a small part of what contributes to public safety. We can help lead that effort, and partner with people to accomplish public safety goals, instead of trying to do it all ourselves.
“I think that shift in focus contributed to how things went for us through that challenging period (of 2020) and through an officer-involved shooting,” he said. “It says a lot about the work we’ve done to build trust. I know not everyone feels that way … and not that there isn’t always room for improvement, but I think it’s something we’ve really gotten right over the past decade or so.”
Reach Maya Hilty at 920-400-7485 or MHilty@sheboygan.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @maya_hilty.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan police, Black community group emphasize unity at free BBQ
