Mayor & City Council

City of College Park Continuing the Conversation: Town Hall on Policing and Black Lives Matter September 3, 2020 7:00 pm Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this was a virtual meeting. Present: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kennedy, Dennis, Rigg, Mitchell, and Mackie. Moderator: Councilmember Robert Day Guests/Panelists: • Sika Wheeler, Assistant Director of Diversity Programming, UMD Office of Diversity and Inclusion • Dr. Kim Nickerson, UMD College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Diversity Officer and Equity Administrator • Major Robert Holland, District 1 Commander, Prince George’s County Police • Dr. Oscar Barbarin, Chair, African American Studies Department, University of Maryland, College Park Staff: Scott Somers, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Kiaisha Barber, Director of Youth, Family and Senior Services; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk. [7:00: When the meeting opened at 7:00 p.m., it was hacked. That meeting was concluded and panelists and attendees were asked to log back on with safeguards in place to prevent further disruption.] Statement by Mayor Wojahn: The earlier Zoom meeting was hacked and we saw disturbing and inappropriate racist, homophobic, and sexist statements in the chat. We apologize for being unprepared to prevent that from happening, and for what you saw earlier. It is only through conversations like this that we can educate and heal and overcome hate in the community. We have now disabled the chat and the Q&A so the meeting can continue without disruption. After discussion, the panelists agreed to go forward with the Town Hall tonight. Councilmember Robert Day moderated the program and introduced the guests. Topics of discussion: Policing: Discussion of 8 Can’t Wait in policing. Comments on the Police Reform Task Force. Continuing the Conversation September 3, 2020 Page 2 Black Lives Matter: What is the Black Lives Matter movement, and what is it not? Parallels with the LGBTQ+ equality movement. What does it mean to support the movement? Why “Black Lives Matter” is threatening to some people. Importance of having the tough conversations. How do we have the tough conversations in our community. How to move from protests to creating and implementing policies that will effect change? Are there any challenges today that make equality harder to achieve? Audience Questions: Why don’t we hear more about “black on black” violence in our cities? The Town Hall concluded at 9:20 p.m.