LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Micah E. Johnson was 14 when he stared down the barrel of a gun.

He was walking down the streets of his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, neighborhood with his older brother when a cop car pulled over behind them.

He remembers multiple officers stepping out. Guns were drawn. And Johnson, a now-UF sociology doctoral student, stood in fear.

“We never knew what they suspected us of,” the 31-year-old said. “They would just point the guns at our heads.”

As the nation struggles to understand the deaths and acts of police brutality against the black community, UF students and the city of Gainesville are looking for answers. Student organizations have held meetings, and demonstrations have been hosted in an effort to provoke conversation and demand change.

Through meetings and protests, the residents of Gainesville want to send the same message: They are tired of talking — tired of dialogue.

For Johnson, it was a reality he grew up in. The issues of police brutality against the black community have existed for a while.

“It makes you crazy a little bit,” he said. “It gets under your skin. It’s painful.”

• • •

Robert Dentmond was shot and killed after a stand-off with police officers in March at an apartment complex in Gainesville.

He was 16.

Ibram Kendi, a UF professor in the African American Studies Program, said Dentmond lived down his street. He had lived in Gainesville for eight months when Dentmond died. He saw no justification in Dentmond’s death, he said.

But police brutality against the black community isn’t a new concept to Kendi. While in Philadelphia, he was approached by an officer who was investigating a recent shooting in the area.

Kendi watched as the officer moved for the gun on his hip.

The officer asked Kendi to remove his hands from his pockets, Kendi recalled. He complied. He believed one wrong move could have ended his life.

“Every black person could be subjected to that kind of treatment,” he said.

No matter how educated a person may be or how many degrees he or she has, he said, every black person is viewed as a criminal.

Kendi joined a panel Sept. 22 to discuss with a group of Gainesville residents, UF students and local officers about the Black Lives Matter movement and events that continue to impact the black community.

“I want people to be able to leave police incidents alive,” he said. “Especially young black people who look like ‘bad dudes.’”

Johnson, who grew up in a predominantly black and Hispanic community, said the presence of police officers was constant.

Police officers would stop kids on the street and point guns directly in their faces, he said. Officers would mistake his fear for guilt and would threaten to beat him up, he said.

“It was a way of life,” he said.

But change is needed, Johnson told a group at the meeting, hosted by the Black Graduate Student Organization. Officers of the Gainesville community, who were present, are helping spark that change, he said.

“I see (Gainesville Police) doing their best to mend these wounds,” Johnson said.

• • •

In Gainesville, officers say they’re continuing to work with the community.

Gainesville Police spokesman Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email that the department is a national leader in community relations.

He said GPD takes all complaints of police misconduct seriously and investigates them thoroughly.

When officers are found to behave inappropriately, he said, GPD acts quickly.

“Our officers recognize that everyone we encounter, no matter their criminal intent, is a human being and deserves to be treated with that respect,” he said.

A crime analyst for GPD provided numbers that show since 2014, the number of arrests has gone down and the gaps between the number of black and white arrests are closing.

As of Sept. 15, 215 more black adults have been arrested than white adults this year.

Johnson said GPD cannot be held accountable for the shootings going on across the nation, but it’s important they know and sympathize with the experiences of the black community.

“We’re asking for support,” he said.

• • •

Three days after the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday, a group of about 300 people showed up on Turlington Plaza.

The names of 40 victims who were killed by officers were read, followed by a moment of silence.

Khyra Keeley, 20, who organized the event, said she has been overwhelmed by the response of the community.

“I think sometimes we forget the power and the influence we have as students,” the UF political science and African-American studies student said.

Keely, the social justice and advocacy chair of UF Black Affairs, said she was amazed by how many students approached her, ready to work for change.

She’s willing to do whatever it takes to see change happen at UF and in Gainesville, Keely said. Even if that means being a part of the movement after graduation.

“I’m going to be in this and fight with you,” she said. “I don’t care how long it takes; I’m in it for the long haul.”

• • •

As Medens Gerbier collapsed in the courtyard of UF Levin College of Law on Wednesday, she thought of Dentmond.

She wore a white shirt covered in blood-red handprints. The 22-year-old lay next to 39 other UF students as they dropped to the ground as name after name was read. Eventually, 40 students lay on the UF law school courtyard in protest of the deaths of unarmed black men and women.

Gerbier’s heart pounded as the names were read aloud. Robert Dentmond. Terence Crutcher. Keith Scott.

“It easily could have been me,” the first-year UF law student said.

Alisha Moriceau, the president of the Black Law Student Association, said students need to talk to one another to provoke change and let go of the fear of offending others.

Despite professors and students being more concerned with political correctness, she said she believes police brutality against the black community needs to be discussed.

“Murder is murder,” the 23-year-old second year UF law student said. “It’s not anti-police — it’s anti-murder.”

Moriceau said she wants to continue having difficult conversations and taking others with her to speak in the community about the issues that affect it.

“We want to make people uncomfortable,” she said, “because until you make people uncomfortable, you cannot impact change.”

Keeley said UF organizations like Black Affairs will have to come together to provoke change.

Along with other students, Keeley said she wants to attend meetings of the Police Advisory Council and work with UF to offer more education and diversity, especially during students’ first year.

“We can’t just grieve together,” she said. ”We have to put together action steps to create change.”

On Wednesday, UF’s Black Law Student Association staged a “die-in” to honor 40 victims of police brutality. The protest took place in the courtyard of the Levin College of Law.