THE BLACK COMMUNITY NEEDS MORE BLACK LEADERS, ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS WORKING IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES, INTERFACING WITH THE POLICE AND COURTS FOR TRUE AND LASTING CHANGE TO TAKE PLACE. IT WOULD BE A START. RANDY WILLIAMS IS SUCH A MAN.
By Georget Roberts @ NYPOST
Give this man, Randy Williams, a diplomatic job.
A savvy Brooklyn dad starred as a one-man negotiating team between hundreds of fellow protesters and a row of dozens of NYPD officers in Park Slope on Friday night — singlehandedly ending a tense, post-curfew standoff.
“They kept their men in check,” Randy Williams, 38, said after the remarkable detente he struck by approaching an NYPD captain as he and fellow protesters massed near Grand Army Plaza.
“For the first time in a very long time the police and the community came together,” Williams told The Post.
The father-of-four and the captain struck an agreement: the protesters would remain non-violent if the police did so as well.
And the captain, he said, agreed to let the protest continue past the 8 p.m. curfew, at least for a time.
“I told the captain a little after 8, we don’t want the same thing from the night before,” when police used batons to subdue protesters in the South Bronx who did not disperse after curfew, Williams said.
“I don’t want any of my people, meaning the protesters and people from this community, getting hurt the same way,” said Williams, a music producer.
“I don’t want none of his officers getting hurt. I told him we stayed in check, we stayed non-violent and last night he didn’t keep his officers in check.
“He made me a promise tonight that he would make sure that all of his officers were in check, and we would be allowed to protest peacefully past curfew.
He added, “I showed that we can trust the police. Not all of them are bad."
“He wouldn’t let it go on all night, but he would allow us to have a decent amount of time.”
He added, “I explained to them that we appreciate them letting us go over the curfew and we appreciate them keeping their men in check and upholding their side of the bargain.
“I asked them to allow us to exit peacefully and unharmed and un-cuffed.”
The protesters used the extra time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Breonna Taylor, the black EMT accidentally shot dead by white officers in her home in Louisville, Kentucky in March.
Before protesters dispersed — peacefully, unharmed and uncuffed, as promised, at around 9:40 p.m. — Williams and a few of the other protesters shared parting fist bumps with half a dozen of the officers who 90 minutes earlier had lined up against them.
“Somebody at some point has to step up and be the bigger person,” Williams said before leaving.
“Because I see so many people get hurt, I wanted to be that man.”
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Amen and Amen. Indeed, Williams showed up and shined. Hopefully this is just the beginning of his leadership and may many others follow in his footsteps.
May God bring lasting good and His Glory out of all this.
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