Policing and Black men: Is building trust possible? One Minneapolis group’s effort

Policing in America is a polarizing topic. High-profile killings of Black men by police officers over the last few years have eroded trust in policing as an institution — especially for many Black Americans. 

According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, most Black Americans think policing needs major changes to treat Black people fairly.

But a group of police officers and community members in Minneapolis has been working — mostly behind the scenes — for the past seven years to build trust.

That includes learning about and acknowledging policing’s origins in slavery. It’s called the Police and Black Men project.

On Tuesday at 9 a.m., MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a longtime police officer and a community organizer involved in the effort.

The conversation is part of the new Talking Sense series at MPR News, which aims to help us better understand why political conversations are so polarized in the first place and to give us tools for managing those conversations.

Talking Sense includes an app with an entire section to help Minnesotans talk with each other about policing.

 Guests:   

• Charles Adams is an inspector for Minneapolis Police Department’s Fourth Precinct. He’s been with MPD since 1987 and is a member of the Police and Black Men Project.

• Guy Bowling is a nationally-recognized fatherhood leader and speaker, the former director of the FATHER Project, a federally-funded responsible fatherhood program, and a 2020 Bush Fellow. He is also a member of the Police and Black Men Project.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.   

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.