Ohio Police Officer Gives a Furious Plea to Her Colleagues Who Are Afraid of Black People

Impact

In the wake of the killings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, Cleveland resident Nakia Jones, a police officer, recorded a tearful plea to her colleagues who police communities to which they do not belong.  

The woman in the video says that what hurts her the most is people who have sworn an oath to serve and protect their communities, but fall short of doing so. 

"If you are white, and you're working in a black community, and you are racist, you need to be ashamed of yourself," Jones says into the camera.

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Jones then names several white communities — suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio — that she could have worked in, but says she chose to work in a black community to make a difference. 

"How dare you stand next to me in the same uniform and murder somebody," Jones says. "How dare you!"

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She then speaks directly to officers who think they are better than the communities they serve. 

"Why don't we just keep it real?" she says. "If you're that officer that knows good and well you got a God complex and you're afraid of people that don't look like you, you have no business in that uniform." 

"Take it off," Jones adds. 

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Jones ends the video by asking her fellow police officers who are afraid of black Americans, Latinos or anyone different from them to take their uniforms off. 

"Because there's many of us that would give our life for anybody," Jones says, tears welling up in her eyes. "And we took this oath and we meant it."

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"If you are that officer that's prejudiced, take that uniform off and put the KKK hoodie on," she says at the end of her video. 

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Given the growing list of actions that will get a black person killed in America, hopefully some officers hear her impassioned plea.