Midlands leaders stress unity with police in wake of shootings

State and Midlands political and community leaders called for unity Friday while mourning shootings across the nation this week with racial overtones that took the lives of five police officers and two African-American men other officers had confronted.

“Teach us how to love one another,” the Rev. A.A. Dicks said at a prayer service at Greater St. Luke Baptist Church on Friday evening that promoted cooperation instead of protest. “We don’t want to see our community turn into chaos.”

The prayer service captured an outpouring of sentiment that centered on cooperation rather than confrontation to reduce shootings. It was part of a vast outpouring of sadness and concern that swept the Midlands and much of the country.

Twelve Dallas officers were shot, five of them fatally, during what started as one of several peaceful protests around the nation Thursday in reaction to this week’s deadly officer-involved shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook and other officers on Friday wore black bands across their badges to show solidarity with those in law enforcement killed.

“It’s a tough day to be a police officer,” he said. “We have heavy hearts.”

Holbrook was among two dozen city police officers and Richland County deputies who attended the prayer service that attracted about 75 participants.

The gathering was held at the north Columbia church at which police chaplain Michael Baker is senior pastor.

In an interview, the Rev. Baker praised Midlands civic and law enforcement leaders for working “to insure we don’t have that kind of outburst” experienced elsewhere.

Local police leaders listen to community concerns and make changes as needed, he said.

Gov. Nikki Haley early Friday promised to pray for peace while commemorating the officers gunned down by a sniper and others injured “amid more senseless violence.”

The shootings show the need to deal with long-simmering racial tensions, others said.

Others issued public statements as well.

“We stand together as mayors in this region denouncing violence of any kind,” mayors from cities and towns in Richland, Lexington, Kershaw and Fairfield counties said in a joint statement. “We ask our churches to reach out to other churches; our neighborhoods to reach out to other neighborhoods; our cities and towns to embrace each other. When we know each other better, we will know peace and justice.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott said, “Reacting to violence with violence will only lead to more heartache. We cannot, will not, let hate win. We have bridges to cross, but we cannot allow madmen to widen the divide.”

The shootings underscore that “we are facing some of the most challenging times of our profession,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said after talking with local community leaders to ask for patience and support.

“A good, healthy dialogue between law enforcement and our community is essential for all of us to prosper,” he said. “This unrest that is erupting across our nation between those of us wearing the uniform and our citizens has to stop.”

Holbrook joined Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott in a statement saying the shootings “exposed fractures in the public’s trust of police. Law enforcement cannot be effective unless we have the trust and confidence of our community.”

The pair pledged to re-evaluate use-of-force standards, improve police training to reduce conflict and work harder to promote partnerships with residents.

“Our work is far from complete,” their statement said. “Community-police relations must be continually fostered.”

Others expressed hope that reaction to the shootings will lead to better appreciation of diversity among Americans.

“I am both outraged and saddened by the deaths of too many young black males by the hands of some in law enforcement,” said state Rep. John King, D-York, the incoming chairman of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus. “I am just as outraged and saddened by the senseless killing of law enforcement officers who were carrying out their number one duty: to protect and serve.”

State Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison said, “We must honor them by coming together as Lincoln said ‘with malice toward none, with charity for all’ to break down the barriers between us that all too often lead to needless violence.”

Meanwhile, the Richland County Library tweeted out an image of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. attached to one of his well-known statements against violence:

“Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: It merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: It seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 8:46 PM with the headline "Midlands leaders stress unity with police in wake of shootings."