Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones Reached Directly to the Community to Seek Reconciliation

I just ran into a speech from three years ago, when Stockton, California Police Chief Eric Jones spoke to a meeting at the Progressive Community Church of Stockton California. His goal was to repair the city’s strained police-community relationships. He went directly to the community, to an audience at a large African-American church, to confront their concerns. While standing up for the police, he also stood up for the community. Davis is a white police chief in a racially diverse city. He sought reconciliation, atonement, and mutual cooperation. The most important aspect of his speech is where he gave it and who listened. Speech scholars of a bygone era would say that audience and occasion shaped Jones’ speech.

We all know that tension often arises between police departments and African-American communities. Jones’ speech was one of a series of meetings that the Stockton Police Department has conducted under his leadership to reach out to African-Americans and repair relationships. 

Speaking at an African-American church, Chief Jones admitted that he was nervous but wanted to reach out. Jones began by acknowledging a problem: “Violence is ripping our nation,” he said. He continued that: “Tragedies in Baton Rouge and Minnesota are leading to pleas against injustices.” He reminded the audience of funerals for five Dallas, Texas police officers ambushed and murdered. He pointed out that “Tensions are high everywhere. And we can’t deny that, and we need to talk about that.”

He then turned to the positive: “We need to make sure we have a guiding light here in our community.” He promised to a crowd that called out its approval that it was necessary to be “Relentless on both building community trust and also assuring that our police officers are safe in their work from ambush and attack.”

Jones also complained about groups that are “divisive.” His voice stressed the word divisive, and he added: “But we must be decisive instead in galvanizing our community and galvanizing our community together.”

In a remarkable turn, Jones then recognized that police departments have too often served to enforce social order instead of justice: “I want to acknowledge a little bit about the historical perspective of policing that many are not accustomed to hearing from law enforcement.” Although Jones emphasized that he himself had not done such things, he knew that other police had. He acknowledged that this history added to community mistrust.

Then, looking for solutions, Jones spoke metaphorically about building bridges, crossing canyons, and moving earth to create unity. He said that we couldn’t think just in terms of one side or another. He told the audience that: “There was a time when police used to be dispatched to keep lynchings ‘civil,’ That’s a fact of our history that we need to acknowledge.” He discussed the role that police once played in returning captured slaves to their masters and enforcing Jim Crow laws.

Problems were surely on everyone’s mind. In several well-reported cases, police officers have used deadly force against African-Americans when it was not necessary. In few of these cases did the police face charges.

Let’s contrast Chief Jones’ speech with President Donald Trump’s recent speech at Benedict College. Benedict is a historically African-American college. President Trump also spoke about race relations. Trump mostly bragged about his own minimal accomplishments in race relations. Chief Jones, instead, talked about ways to heal past wrongs and injustices. He sought reconciliation. That is more difficult, but also much more positive. Jones spoke directly to a church full of local community members and leaders. Trump, however, allowed only ten Benedict College students to attend (seven showed up); the rest of the audience was hand-picked to assure a favorable reaction. Most Benedict College students were confined to their dormitories. Trump seemed rather cowardly, while Jones showed courage as he confronted the situation directly.

Their motives differed. Trump has no real interest in reaching out to African-Americans; his only obvious goal was to convince his mostly-white supporters that he is not racist. But Jones was spearheading a series of difficult community dialogues.

The same words might convey different meanings when spoken to different audiences. Audience and occasion remain central if we want to understand speeches.