Our community has been tested by violence. We responded with grace

Three Days of Violence: Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas

At Monday's Coatesville City Council meeting a man asked if Coatesville has a contingency plan if something happens in Coatesville.

Do you remember this:

Kid, 13, Dies in Crash After Police Pursuit Over Stolen SUV 

THURSDAY MAY 6, 2010 

Police began following the truck after seeing its headlights were off 

 13-year-old Rasheem Butcher was killed after the stolen SUV he was driving rolled over, pinning him late Wednesday, police say. 

 By Vince Lattanzio

There was a near riot in Coatesville. More than 50 police officers, including PA State Troopers came to Coatesville, PA. 

It didn’t help that Fox News put a frantic women on TV video who claimed the police deliberately overturned the SUV on Rasheem Butcher.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Ten minutes

That's how long it took for several of Coatesville's community leaders to get to the crash scene on Wednesday night. They stayed past midnight. Cool heads prevailed.

Thanks 

Posted by James Pitcherella at 7:25 PM 

I recorded this at the Community Information Meeting on Saturday May 8, 2010 at the Second Baptist Church in Coatesville. The occasion was an open discussion between the City of Coatesville community, law enforcement officers, community leaders and church leaders concerning the accidental death of a 13 year old Coatesville youth driving a stolen vehicle and pursued by Coatesville Police the previous Wednesday.

It contains his speech on made at the dedication ceremony of Zachariah Walker Memorial in 2006 on prejudice. 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 

Joseph Carroll-"I firmly believe that men of good will speak every language, belong to all races and worship all Gods. We need to replace fear of one another with trust. Hate with understanding. And I believe that the need that precedes that understanding is planted in our souls."

Pastor, Harris, “Well, I’ll answer, I’ll try to answer. I’ll try to answer your question. There are some of us who are out on the streets. There are some of us who are involved in the community. There are some of us who are really concerned about the welfare of our community and our children.

One of the things that I do find out is that I have to throw some things back on you. You ask to us where we are. Where were you? You send your children to us for maybe two, three hours a day. We only have the time to mentor them while we are in the confines of this district. We try to teach them morally. We try to reach them spiritually. We even teach them on a level of being brothers and sisters.

We know we can’t reach everybody. But the ones that we can reach we do. Some of us are in the trenches trying to save our children, your children. And when they hurt we hurt. Some of you don’t know that up on Coates Street; I have many children that come to me for community service. And I teach every last one of them, whether they’re black children or white children. I tell them it takes 10 seconds to make a better choice. But I can’t be mom and dad to them 24 hours a day. That’s not my job. That’s our job. That’s your job. They’re your children too. So we can’t start blaming the church for everything that goes on in the community.

MORE AT:

Sunday, May 16, 2010

“Are you going to answer that last question? ”Saturday, May 8, 2010 Second Baptist Church, Coatesville, PA; Community Information Meeting

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This meeting was about a year ago. Some of the same people who spoke up at the Caln Township meeting in April of 2001 concerning the tactical police squad raid on the wrong house helped to organize this meeting:

The message was well received. More meetings are planned.

Friday, June 19, 2015 

Recording of the Community - Police Forum for the Coatesville Area June 18, 2015 

On Thursday June 18, 2015 we had the 1st Community - Police Forum for the Coatesville Area at the New Life in Fellowship Church in Coatesville, PA.

I don't know of a meeting quite like this one in Chester County or anywhere. If anyone does put it in the comments below.

THE PANEL MEMBERS WERE:

Chief John Laufer  -  Coatesville

Chief Joseph Elias -  Caln Township

Chief Lew Wilson -    South Coatesville

Chief Joseph Friel -  Valley Township

The Community Manifesto was read by Rev. and former Coatesville Magistrate Judge Robert Davis.

State Senator Andrew Dinniman was in attendance