By Jean Stanfield

By now many of us have witnessed the horrific video or seen the snapshots that captured the murder of George Floyd. I pray that all the officers responsible for this crime are held fully accountable for their actions and failure to act.   Mr. Floyd and his family, as well as all people of color who live in fear of being the next George Floyd, certainly deserve justice.   So do the thousands of good law enforcement officers who go to work each day who truly do want to protect and serve.

Americans are entitled to a fair legal system that works equally for all.  As this process unfolds, let’s hope we see real structural change.  This wasn’t a split-second decision that went awry, and it needs to be treated as the intended act that it was.

The trauma our black community has withstood has gone on for too long, and we need to work together to address the underlying reasons crimes like this occur.  Moving forward, I hope this moment gives each of us an opportunity to examine our role in making sure this never happens again. After several long talks over the past few days with my son, I had to confront a very uncomfortable reality about myself – I haven’t done enough in my lifetime to make sure that prejudice in any form is called out and addressed.

On the surface, my track record looks pretty good.  Over the years our family marched numerous times after African-American men died at the hands of law enforcement under questionable circumstances.   When I worked for the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, I went all over the state giving diversity training for law enforcement officers.  As an Assistant Burlington County Prosecutor, I was a member and later chair of our county Human Relations Commission.  I also started a Junior Human Relations Commission to bring 100 high school students together each month to discuss issues of race, gender and other forms of discrimination.  Later I chaired the New Jersey Human Relations Council and as Burlington County Sheriff implemented the program Police and Teens Together and other initiatives to bring minority youth together with law enforcement.

I say this not to pat myself on the back but to say that I totally dropped the ball and did not do the most important thing I could do, which was to speak out loudly and clearly each and every time I heard someone make a statement that showed their implicit bias.   My silence during critical exchanges has allowed prejudice to continue unchallenged.

Most people that know me understand that I have a bi-racial family and feel strongly about equality and respect for all people, so if someone is telling racist jokes or making blatant statements of hate, it’s not going to be to me.   But I have heard people make subtle comments that reveal their bias towards people of color and because I was being polite, thought, “that’s just their age group speaking” or “the time wasn’t right,” and so I let it go.

For instance, I’ve heard people speak about poverty as it equates to African Americans and suggest this community might want to live this way. I should’ve spoken up. From now on, I pledge to speak up, because when people believe these things and their thoughts go unquestioned, they accumulate over time and lead to a feeling of superiority and entitlement. When this rotten mindset manifests itself, we see devastating instances like a police officer who squeezes the life out of another human being over the course of nearly eight minutes in full view of three other officers and a crowd of people pleading with him to stop.

I’m not alone in this silence.  If each of us takes the opportunity to call out racism, sexism and other forms of prejudice when we see it, no matter how subtle, we teach other people different perspectives.   It won’t change everyone, but if done universally and consistently, there will be real progress.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal” and “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Jean Stanfield is the Assemblywoman from the 8th Legislative District and former Sheriff of Burlington County.