Dallas – It’s been a year since George Floyd was killed, but Jerry Hawkins has yet to watch the video. He probably won’t see it.

“I am also a victim of police violence,” Hawkins said. “My father is a police officer, my brother is a police officer and my uncle is a police officer, but I could not prevent him from being mistreated, harassed or outright beaten by a police officer. It all happened to me. “

Last summer, the world responded to a video of Floyd’s death during a peaceful and destructive protest, calling for police reform.

Hawkins, executive director of Racial Healing & Transformation, Dallas Truth, said he hadn’t watched the video for almost 10 minutes, but had seen it directly impact millions of people.

“He’s one of the first to see white youth outdo racing of color on the streets,” said Hawkins.

“We saw people on the streets like never before. Persistent protests, growing protests. Protests in all states. Events in 12 countries around the world. It changed our view of things. And I’ve seen the community react, organizations and surprisingly businesses react very differently. “

Unit. The willingness to meet people, even those who are not like you, to unite and face the issues that hurt them, and ultimately the whole community. That’s what Hawkins said he would fix this problem. This is what his organization fights on a daily basis.

“Our mission is to create a fundamentally inclusive city, everyone,” said Hawkins. “Even those who are excluded, marginalized, struggle against race and racism through history changes, relationship building and the TRHT framework, which is fair policy and practice.”

Hawkins said the first step towards racial healing and the transition to a more inclusive and equitable society recognizes the past.

“When we talk about this Dallas story, it’s that Dallas is on stolen land, and Dallas’ second policy is that Dallas was built with stolen labor,” Hawkins said. It was.

According to Hawkins, Dallas was the result of the exclusion of Native Americans from their lands and enslaved Africans working to build them.

“In 1860, Dallas County was home to over 1,000 enslaved Africans,” Hawkins said.

The impact of what Hawkins calls “urban heritage” lies geographically between documented apparently violent public lynching-type events, socioeconomic class and, in most cases, race. It manifests itself both in existing policies and in the infrastructure that has created a gap.

“Communities were literally created through federal policies like Redlining,” Hawkins said. “Through local policies such as subdivision, land expropriation and road policies designed by racists to literally separate communities.”

“There were local discussions about banking under 30,” Hawkins said. “He explains how the freeways that separate north and south Dallas separate access to banks of color and mortgages.”

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“They still exist and will be there until we face them,” Hawkins said.

One of the programs offered by Dallas TRHT is for a Racial Healing Circle.

“It’s a place where we can form a circle and become equals and talk about issues related to our lives, our races and our experiences,” Hawkins said. “We can also be assertive in a circle and build deeper relationships.”

Hawkins said the result of these circles is that they allow people to learn, feel more connected, and better rebuild their hierarchy of values.

“Our value is not the color or appearance of our skin. Our value is what we are human and bring to our community, ”says Hawkins.

Floyd’s murder created a new wave of anger at the racial injustice and violence that has plagued communities across the country since its inception. However, although recorded and widely published, Floyd’s death was neither isolated nor unique. Not last summer, the crowd also chanted names like Amado Arbury and Breona Taylor. And not months and years ago.

While there have been a few, if not most, cases of lawsuits and charges, Mr Hawkins said the problem itself would not be resolved until the underlying source of the racism was resolved. cured and eliminated. Declared.

“Racism is an inhumane process,” Hawkins said. “It literally robs you of your humanity. You become superhuman and you have to work very hard … work twice as hard as some mantras say, or you are contributing to society. Inhuman, not really worth it. They put you in jail and give you a shoddy school. “

“Racial healing is the process that humanizes us,” Hawkins said. “Recognize the humanity of all of us.”