Revolution From Within

By Kameel Stanley,

Tim Lloyd

Published October 31, 2017 at 12:00 AM CDT

Retired St. Louis police Sgt. James Buchanan helped found a police union focused on the needs and concerns of black officers in the late 1960s.. Decades later, the Ethical Society of Police, still exists to try to change the police department from within. Buchanan and other black officers says despite some progress, the need for the black police union has not faded and is especially relevant amid ongoing calls for more police accountability and the frayed relationship between law enforcement and the black community in St. Louis.

There have been near-daily protests in St. Louis following the September 2017 acquittal of a white police officer who killed a black man six years ago.

And mounting allegations of excessive use of force by police officers responding to those protests.

As all this pressure from the outside builds, we’re coming at the issue of police accountability from a different angle.

September 15th Protests in Response to Stockley's Acquittal. Signs read "Not Our Verdict" and "Black Lives Matter" — Demonstrators march through the Central West End neighborhood Sept. 15 after a judge acquitted former police officer Jason Stockley, charged with murder in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith.

In this episode, we bring you the stories of black cops -- past and present -- who’ve been trying to change the system from the inside.

Music in this episode comes from St. Louis producer Trifeckta and from the Free Music Archive (artists: Chris Zabriskie, Kai Engel, Jahzzar, Andy G Cohen, and Drake Stafford

Tags

We Live Here: 10 Years After the Ferguson Uprising We Live Here | Season 3

Kameel Stanley

Kameel Stanley co-hosted and co-produced the We Live Here podcast—covering race, class, power, and poverty in the St. Louis Region—from 2015 to 2018.

See stories by Kameel Stanley

Tim Lloyd

Tim Lloyd was a founding host of We Live Here from 2015 to 2018 and was the Senior Producer of On Demand and Content Partnerships until Spring of 2020.

See stories by Tim Lloyd