Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Conversations about police and community relations tend to pop up after a crisis situation. Second Nazareth Baptist Church hosted a panel of community leaders Thursday night to get the conversation started before the next tragedy.
"A house divided against itself will not stand and we don't want to be a divided Columbia, we want to be one Columbia," said Johnny Ray Noble, the church's pastor.
Gwendolyn Singletary says the women's ministry came up with the idea of hosting this discussion because the violence seen around the country makes it hard to feel safe.
"We just said, 'my God, we're all afraid,'" Singletary said.
Singletary says the world we know now seems to have gotten more dangerous.
"The ability to go outside, the ability to get in an argument and it not end in violence," Singletary says, "we want the same kind of community and same kind of chances we had when we came up."
Noble invited Mayor Steve Benjamin, Columbia police chief Skip Holbrook, and other community leaders to talk about how to build community relations.
"The balance in the community could be tipped by one incident and we don't want to see that happen in Columbia," Noble said.
Noble says the idea is being proactive, not reactive.
"Not just talk, not just march, not just protest, but to come in and find some viable solutions," Noble said.
Chief Skip Holbrook says he came because he, too, recognized the need.
"We know we have some fractured relationships and we know we have to build stronger relationships with our young adults and our youth," Holbrook said.
Holbrook says what people seem to care about most is the manner in which police interact with them.
"It's not often about the ticket or even an arrest," Holbrook said, "they want to know that they've been treated fair, with respect and dignity in the process."
They say although nothing can be done about incidents in the past, only we can decide how we go forward.
"We don't want the conversation to stop," Singletary said, "when that stops, nothing goes forward. As long as we're talking, as long as we're sharing, we're still going forward."
Singletary says Second Nazareth Baptist Church plans on hosting more community conversation events like this in the future.