Sunflower Police Chief Bobby Walker’s Facebook message regarding the death of George Floyd was seen by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, over the past week.
Walker posted the message on May 28, and as of Tuesday of this week, it had been shared over 210,000 times on the social media platform.
The E-T spoke to Walker late last week after it had been shared over 3,000 times, enough to deem it viral even then, and he said he hoped his message would be helpful for those trying to process the situation.
Walker has been police chief in Sunflower since last September.
His message is below in its entirety.
I wasn’t going to comment, but I fear that my silence will cause more harm than good.
I am a black police officer and for that I am disliked by many of my own race but I will continue to serve and protect every race. I DO NOT nor will I ever condone an officer misconduct in my presence or under any circumstances. I WILL SPEAK UP
The public needs to hear from it’s Police, to speak out when injustice rears it’s ugly head. I’ve seen the cell phone video, I’ve seen the security footage leading up as well.
This is the complete opposite of what we are taught to do. Cuff, roll them to the side sit them up etc. If need be place a knee between the shoulders to gain compliance.
When someone says they can't breathe just because they are speaking does not mean they are breathing correctly. The body informs us of this. Later the heart fails. We can also drown hours after swimming from inhaling water the wrong way. People need to know their anatomy before speaking against someone saying they can't breathe.
I’ve been trained better as not only a cop, but as a human, than to treat someone the way that George Floyd was treated. Regardless of race or if someone is on drugs etc.
My fellow cops; the public needs to hear us say it. We won’t hold our legitimacy if we don’t speak up for what is right, even if the price of saying it is high. We can’t expect our community members to trust us when things are good, if we don’t do the right thing when things are bad.
I refuse to be associated as someone capable of doing to someone what was done on that video.
Be kind to each other; mourning George Floyd and Supporting Good Law Enforcement do not have to be mutually exclusive. There doesn’t need to be “sides” to this. We can fight injustice together. It is hate like this that makes it hard for us good ones and unfortunately good ones get killed for the hate others give behind the badge. #AllLivesMatter This hatred isn't new.
