When I was growing up in Detroit I never really ventured off to far from home on a regular basis. I knew kids that lived on other streets from school, but I never found it necessary to leave the block. All of our friends lived within a few houses of each other and we played up and down the street until it was time to go in. I guess it would have been nice to interact with kids from the surrounding area through some kind of event for the community. Some families go lots of places during the summer, while others may not. For those that may be sticking around home,local events are a godsend, especially if they’re free!
Last Friday I had attended an event put on by the Detroit Police Department and the Detroit 300 Community Action Team called Bridging the Gap. This endeavor, as the name implies, is an effort to provide a fun, safe evening of games, music and a movie in the park. This massive undertaking is set to happen every Friday evening for six weeks at different parks in the city. This one was at Hope park in Brightmoor. Officer Tanda Rawls-Owens of the 8th precinct, is the brains behind the effort. I saw her running around making sure everything was set and in place. I finally got a chance to chat with her for a few seconds while she kept her eyes on things.
There were police from several neighboring cities there to show their support and let the public know that they support them as well. It truly takes commitment and effort from both the community and the police department to decrease the crime rate in the city. The time has come for people to stand up against criminals and take back what’s rightfully theirs.
The evening went without a hitch and hundreds of people were able to enjoy themselves while dancing to music and eating hotdogs. It was great seeing all of the youth having good innocent fun with dance offs, men playing horseshoes, toy giveaways from the church and lets not forget the movie. There were two to appease both kids and adult senses. For the kids they showed the Croods (2013) and for the adults the showed Silver Streak (1976). Looking good Detroit!
I really love the idea of bringing the people and the police together! I grew up with (and continue to have) a lot of police officers in my family, and all the tragedies surrounding interactions between people (especially the black community) and police have really had me feeling torn, but the number of deaths is absolutely unacceptable. It’s a massive and complex issue to address, but I think events like this are a positive step in rebuilding trust between the police and the community they’re serving.
It looks like you had a wonderful time!