A Black Cleveland police officer’s Facebook video responding to the deadly police-involved shooting in Louisiana has gone viral. The video, which was recorded live on Facebook Wednesday afternoon, shows officer Nakia Jones expressing her discontent at the events that resulted in the death of Alton Sterling.
Sterling, 37, died after an encounter outside of a Baton Rouge convenience store with two white police officers early Tuesday.
“It bothers me when I hear people say, ‘Y’all police officers this, y’all police officers that,” Jones states in the recording. “They put us in this negative category when I’m saying to myself, ‘I’m not that type of police officer.’…So I’m looking at [the video], and it tore me up because I got to see what you all see. If I wasn’t a police officer and I wasn’t on the inside, I would be saying, ‘Look at this racist stuff. Look at this.’ And it hurt me.”
Jones works for the Warrensville Heights Police Department. In her video she says she has been an officer since 1996.
“The reason why I became a police officer was to make a difference in peoples’ lives,” she states. “I knew what it was like to have a parent on drugs.”
In her seven-minute long video, Jones also called out officers who display actions that do not reflect the proper code of conduct. “How dare you stand next to me in the same uniform and murder somebody! How dare you! You ought to be ashamed of yourself! So, why don’t we just keep it real? If you’re that officer that knows good and well you’ve got a God complex, you’re afraid of people that don’t look like you, you have no business in uniform! Take it off!
Watch Jones’ full response below.
