Civilian oversight is an accountability tool to shift funding, power and priorities away from policing and toward communities impacted by policing. From my experience living in a neighborhood that has borne the brunt of violence, mistrust and disrespect from the police, this accountability is a first step to create meaningful safety in our city.
I value safety because I am a mother to four Black boys. My husband and I are raising our sons in Gilpin Court.
My sons are my heart. I want them to live in a world that offers equal opportunities and keeps them safe.
I am committed to achieving this world for my sons. That is why in addition to my biological children, I am a mother figure for all Gilpin Court youths.
As a community mother, I have run a mutual aid network in my neighborhood for two years. My volunteer team provides food and other supplies to more than 60 households in Gilpin. My program is focused on empowering my neighbors to be self-reliant and innovative.
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One of the biggest obstacles to my neighbors and I realizing the dreams we have for our children and community is the police department. I live daily with the fear and worry that my beautiful boys will not reach adulthood because a police officer might view them as suspicious.
The Richmond Transparency and Accountability Project conducted an independent analysis of recent Richmond Police Department data. It found that from January 2018 to March 2019, Black people — only 48% of the city’s population — comprised 66% to 71% of all RPD Suspicious Field Interview Reports. White people made up 25%.
This means Black people were 2.7 times more likely to be perceived as suspicious. No child or person deserves to be treated as “criminal” or “suspicious” — especially when their only “crime” is being Black or lacking wealth.
There is a stark disparity in the funding my community receives and police budget allocations. The city continues to defund social services, education, food, housing and employment for my neighborhood.
In fact, the pool in my neighborhood community center has sat unused for nearly 10 years because the city won’t fund the repairs. The police department, however, continues to get increased funding to militarize its forces and increase surveillance in my neighborhood.
My life is dedicated to working with other community leaders to fight for the lives of our Gilpin Court children. We are committed to making sure that our children stay safe, healthy and unharmed by police violence and trauma. This led to me join the CRB Task Force.
The task force was a group of nine members from diverse backgrounds that came together in 2020, at the request of City Council, to study and propose civilian oversight in Richmond. We were tasked with gathering community input on a civilian review board. We talked to many people and understood that Richmonders demanded robust, transparent and independent oversight of the police.
Although the task force faced challenges — getting started much later than the ordinance suggested, a lack of clear direction and limited support — we were dedicated to the task and worked very hard. We met for more than a year, had meetings that lasted three to four hours every week, engaged in community outreach events that each took hours of planning and event time, and met with stakeholders all across the city.
We rearranged our schedules, found care for our children and asked family members to pick up more of our share of the housework. We put the rest of our lives on pause to do the task force work and to listen to what our community wanted in civilian oversight. And we did it all for free.
Mayor Levar Stoney’s proposal disregarded the task force’s labor recommendations in favor of a paid consultant’s suggestions. Let me be clear: This is an attempt to mute my voice and undermine the task force’s work.
This ordinance suggests to me that our politicians do not value my voice or my community’s voice. We did public meetings and town halls. We canvassed neighborhoods, and created and circulated a survey with hundreds of responses.
The current proposed ordinance does not conform with the task force recommendations that were created from the community’s desires. I urge City Council to rethink the mayor’s ordinance, and instead propose one that supports the task force’s recommendations.
My sons and my neighbors’ children deserve freedom, dignity and opportunity — but first, they deserve safety.
Teenora Thurston is a mother of four, a resident of Gilpin Court, the founder and director of Mothers to Others, and a previous member of the CRB Task Force. Contact her at: tthurston804@gmail.com
