SPECIAL

Gaston police, clergy say covenant a bridge to peace

Michael Banks
mbanks@gastongazette.com
Church members from Iglesia Pentecostes Almacen Del Aceite sign the covenant banner that was created in 2016 by the Gaston Clergy & Citizens Coalition (GC3) and Gaston County Law Enforcement as a covenant for community and relationship building.  The covenant has served to create open communication between our law enforcement, clergy and communities.

It may be words on a piece of paper, but Gaston County leaders in law enforcement and religion believe a pledge formed four years ago has helped keep peace locally.

As millions of Americans have gathered in cities large and small to denounce police brutality and racial inequality, the gatherings in Gaston County have, for the most part, been peaceful and without violent clashes between police and protesters.

The Rev. Dr. Rodney Freeman, pastor of the Mt. Zion Restoration Church in Gastonia, points to a covenant between the Gaston Clergy and Citizens Coalition (GC3) and Gaston County law enforcement as being ahead of its time.

“I’ve seen it work,” said Freeman, who is a member of the GC3 executive committee. “The peace that you are experiencing in Gastonia is because of this covenant and what we’ve done behind the scenes over the last six years.”

Talk of the need for a covenant first started locally in 2014, soon after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. The shooting and a grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officer set off a wave of protests and eventually led the Justice Department to demand Ferguson overhaul its criminal justice system.

“We didn’t want that type of uproar,” Freeman said.

GC3, an initiative of Gaston Together, is a group of area ministers and citizen advocates that work together to build community relations among the races.

It was the hope of GC3 to be proactive rather than reactive and the coalition sought a pledge to bring the local community together across lines of race, creed, class, gender and location.

“We wanted to make a commitment to each other that we were going to work together and help because we realize that historically there have been some tensions there,” said Freeman, noting that a lot of those differences were “cultural differences” between law enforcement and certain segments of society.

“There have been incidents in this county and if it wasn’t for this covenant, there’s no telling what might have happened,” Freeman said.

The first covenant signing was in 2016. The most recent in 2019. It includes the signatures of all the members of the GC3 executive committee as well as the chiefs of 13 law enforcement agencies in Gaston County and Kings Mountain.

Robert Helton is chief of the Gastonia Police Department, where a framed copy of the covenant hangs on its walls. He said the ideals expressed in the pledge have become a part of the culture of law enforcement in Gaston County.

“It’s important to have that template to fall back on, and be able to work through those things and be productive in how we move forward,” Helton said.

He noted that in the beginning there were “some tough conversations” held between both sides.

“There was a lot of emotions and a lot of kind of feeling each other out, sparring a little bit,” Helton said. “But over time, those guards came down and those hearts rose. And we realized we have a lot more in common than we did different.”

Some examples of the covenant at work would be in the body cams worn by local police officers in a nod to transparency and the open line of communication between law enforcement and clergy.

“Some of the first calls we make is to the local clergy, saying ’this is what has happened, this is how we’re handling it.’ Information is key,” Helton said.

Community meetings are held at local churches and there has been an increase in the hiring of minorities on local police forces.

“The churches have become a safe place,” Helton said. “I’m very proud of how we’ve handled things.”

It’s a partnership where each is holding the other accountable and there is equal amounts of respect.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about how we get solutions,” said Freeman, who believes the covenant is built upon values that each individual in the local community can embrace.

“The relationship is much greater than the differences. Do not judge on what you see visually, but get to know the person under the white skin, the black skin,” he said. “I promise you, we’ll have a much, much better world to live in.”

You can reach Michael Banks at 704-869-1842, email mbanks@gastongazette.com and follow on Twitter @MichaelBanksNC.

Some of the signitures on the covenant banner that was created in 2016 by the Gaston Clergy & Citizens Coalition (GC3) and Gaston County Law Enforcement as a covenant for community and relationship building.  The covenant has served to create open communication between our law enforcement, clergy and communities.