A community meeting intended to recognize that black lives — and all lives — matter ended abruptly Friday after angry participants critical of law enforcement drowned out remarks from Topeka’s chief of police.
The Topeka Police Department later issued a directive for two units to respond to all calls for the remainder of the shift “to ensure officer safety.”
The Rev. T.D. Hicks, pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, asked for calm but finally announced the meeting had ended when order couldn’t be restored. The meeting of 200 people at New Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 2801 S.E. Indiana, ended about halfway through the program’s schedule.
Hicks asked those who attended the meeting to leave the church, but about 50 people remained in the parking lot for at least 30 minutes with a physical altercation occurring between two men. Church elders asked people to leave. Several Topeka police units arrived, with officers exiting their vehicles and standing silently to the side.
Trouble first began during Police Chief James Brown’s remarks.
Brown was interrupted as he read from prepared remarks noting the police department’s efforts to engage with members of the community in a positive manner, touting community policing officers’ work and recent “coffee with a cop” events among others.
“TPD believes in treating all people with dignity and respect,” Brown said, and a man sitting at the back of the room laughed loudly.
The man, Timothy Smith, of St. Louis, interjected comments as Brown spoke. Seconds later, a young woman with Lawrence community organizer Caleb Stephens’ group stood up and began yelling. Some older attendees asked her to calm down, and a man loudly asked her to stop cursing.
Stephens and Smith added their voices to hers, saying she should be allowed to “speak her pain.”
Hicks, who served as the event’s moderator, tried to restore order, asking that Brown be allowed to finish speaking. Brown and Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones left the dais to speak with Smith, and Hicks soon announced the program would end, saying he regretted that “people were talking and not hearing each other.”
Hicks asked people to exit the church. Within a few minutes, most people had done so, including Stephens and Smith. Many lingered in the parking lot. As Smith began speaking to a reporter, several people drew closer to listen.
With perspiration drenching his face during the interview, Smith railed against the event. He said Brown’s remarks were scripted and not heartfelt. Smith called all of the event’s speakers “liars.”
“I’m tired of listening to liars, whether they wear clergy collars or a badge,” he said.
A man pushed through the listeners to tell the reporter his son was the victim of a recent homicide in Topeka. His voice was charged with emotion as he confronted Smith. The two men began shoving each other. Men who appeared to be church members designated as event security separated them.
Minutes later, a police squad car pulled into the church parking lot. At least five other police patrol vehicles were parked on streets surrounding New Mount Zion church as people continued to leave the parking lot.
Source: Topeka Capital Journal | Samantha Foster