Readers’ opinions: Hoover needs immediate, transformative change in police, government
Editor’s note: The following letter to the editor was submitted by 149 people. Ninety-six percent indicated they live in Hoover, while 20.5% indicated they work in Hoover and 6.4% are Hoover business owners.
The death of George Floyd has once again highlighted the stark reality of inequities and discrimination faced by people of color in communities across the United States. Citizens and protesters across the country and in our own community are calling for governments and police forces to commit to immediate and transformative changes to our police and local governments.
In Hoover, this is not the first time that issues of racism and racial inequities have been raised. Almost two years ago, the killing of E.J. Bradford led to ongoing protests and calls for the city to take action to promote equity and inclusion for people of color. Groups of citizens repeatedly met with city officials and called on them to institute changes in policy, education, training and data sharing. In addition to these efforts, community-based educational initiatives led by grassroots organizations like Hoover-AHEAD have facilitated conversations among Hoover citizens about how we can make our community more welcoming for people of color. These discussions and recent events have brought us to a tipping point, and we are calling for the city to move beyond the discussion phase to institute transformative and sustainable changes to city government and administration designed to promote equity and inclusion for all citizens in our diverse city.
We, the undersigned residents, workers, and business owners of Hoover, Alabama, are publicly calling upon city leadership to immediately begin implementation of the action items listed below:
- Create a centralized, public website that summarizes available data from the last five years related to issues of diversity and inclusion, including, but not limited to: traffic stops, tickets, arrests, school discipline, educational outcomes, city employment information, and city contract awards by race, ethnicity, and gender.
- Hire a chief diversity officer for the city of Hoover tasked with overseeing data requests/updates, implementation of citizen and city employee climate assessments, review of current city policies and comparison with best practices related to equity and inclusion, and liaising with citizen groups and advisory boards.
- Create an Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board of racially and ethnically diverse Hoover citizens who will work with the chief diversity officer, mayor, City Council, and Hoover City Schools administration and board to recommend data-driven changes to policy and targeted training initiatives and establish benchmarks for progress.
- Institute a requirement for diversity, equity, and inclusion and implicit bias training for all city employees and officials, including the mayor’s office, City Council, Hoover City Schools and the police and fire departments.
- Incorporate criteria related to diversity, equity and inclusion into all departmental and employee evaluations.
These action items are in alignment with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. standards for Advanced Law Enforcement Education and are based on the International City/County Managers Association Equity and Inclusion Toolkit, which highlights the work of 32 member communities, including Decatur, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Asheville, North Carolina. By instituting these changes, we believe that we can create a framework for progress that will unite our diverse community and ensure an equitable future for all Hoover citizens. We look forward to working with the city to create a better Hoover.
Megan Adams
Sakeena Ahmed
Lorraine Albright
Amy Anderson
Elisabeth Andrews
Judy Armstrong
Thomas Armstrong
Meita Arnold
Carmen Maria Austin
Louise (Lisa) Balazs
B. Delaney Bennett
Kim Boettner
Emily Brown
Jennifer Brown
Beau Burchfield
Emily Burchfield
Stacy Cahill
Jennifer Hallman Campbell
Mary Ellen Capps
Samantha Carnley
Judy Carr
Jennifer Cloe
Terri Coleman
Albert Coltrane
Brad Coltrane
Dorotha Coltrane
Rev. Julie Conrady
James Crapia
Garrett Crapia
Shawna Davis
Will Davis
Carol Dean
Joseph Dean
Kit Deason
Amanda Dinsmore
Lindsay Donald
Lorraine Donald
Omar Herrera
Nancy Dorman-Hickson
Cheryl Doyle
Brett DuPree
Dana Ellis
Stephanie Ensminger
LeighAnn Farrington
Denton Fromme
Shilpa Gaggar
Lynette Garner
Kaylin Gomez-Johnson
Rev. Ken Gordon
Leslie Gordon
David Griner
Carla Hamilton
Meredith Hankins
Katharine Hayes
Sharis Hazel
Mark Hickson
Doug Hoffman
Josh Holden
Alexander Hooks
Terry Hooks
Alex Johnson
Adam Jones
Amanda Jones
Minnie Jones
Paula Jones
Kevin Kennedy
Laree Kennedy
U.S. Air Force retired Col. Virgil Kicker
Jenna Kuykendall
Debbi Land
Tom Land
Dori Landry
Catherine Lewis
Joseph Lewis
Gray Lloyd
Billie Lochamy
Bob Lochamy
Reed Lochamy
Will Lochamy
Deborah Lockridge
Charles Long
Jennifer Lovell
Tracy Luckhardt
Pamela MacDougall
Al Marks
Carole Marks
Ellen Martin
Janice Martin
Carin Mayo
Fran Mayo
Randall Mayo
Aaron Mcculley
Sara McDaniel
Janet McGowin
Rebecca Miltner
Domini Moore
Quentina Moorer
Michele Morgan
Emily Naefe
Ruth Ollie
Andy Parrish
Rhea Patel
Emily Peterson
Dwayne Poer
Kristin Powell
Rebecca Pritchett
Susan Pritchett
Marybeth Ranum
Christie Reeder
Al Rees
Cherinita Reese
Ronald Reese
Jill Rice
Mark Richman
Justin Robertson
Katherine Rogers
Dianne Rowe
Valerie Salinas
Mariann Schmitz
Cassandra Scott
Janet Sharpe
Arnold Singer
Francine Singer
Lisa Singer
Roger Sinkey
Brian Smith
Kara Snell
Melinda Sosa
Austin Stallworth
Michelle Stallworth
Christy Stamps
Erin Street
Melanie Styers
Matt Suggs
Valerie Suggs
Allison Taylor Shelly Terry
Jennifer Touchstone
Shannon Trammell
Pat VanderMeer
Liesl Varner
Allison Whitfield-Smith
Stephenie Wallace
Marie Weinstein
Elizabeth Wood
Morgan Yund
Anastasia Zellner
Gianna Zellner
Joe Zellner