Panel discussion on race, prejudice to be broadcast Friday

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Four Menifee community leaders will discuss race relations and potential paths to progress in a video to be broadcast on social media Friday afternoon.

The event, called “A Conversation for Change”, is the result of an idea by Ryan Sharp, pastor of Impact Church in Menifee and recently named a volunteer chaplain with the new Menifee Police Department. Sharp invited three others who quickly agreed to join him in the online panel discussion: Menifee Police Chief Pat Walsh; Pastor Gregory Perkins of The View Church; and Altie Holcomb, a retired Marine who is very active in the Menifee community.

A flier promoting the event says topics to be discussed include race, law enforcement, and prejudice. The event was organized just a couple days ago, shortly after a peaceful demonstration in Menifee about racial inequality and police brutality. That protest is one of numerous demonstrations across the country following the death of George Floyd, an African American who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis placed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

“I’ve been very unsettled recently about things that have happened,” Sharp said. “Every time something like this happens, it’s especially challenging. Our church members include brothers and sisters in the black community, in law enforcement, in the entire community. I have delivered entire sermons dealing with racism and prejudice.

“I want to do more than just preach another sermon about this. We need to start a public conversation in Menifee and hope other cities will do the same.”

Sharp said the panel discussion will be recorded for broadcast at 2 p.m. Friday on the Impact Church Facebook page and website. The video will also be posted on Menifee 24/7 at that time. The public will not have an opportunity to participate in the discussion, but Sharp said he hopes to make this an ongoing program, perhaps with live broadcasts taking questions from residents in the future.

“This will not be a ‘one and done,’” Sharp said. “I want this to be an ongoing conversation involving groups that have been at odds throughout the country. I believe that locally, we have leaders in place who believe in this. Now we need an ongoing movement toward establishing change.”

Walsh said from the moment he was hired more than a year ago that his goal was to create a Menifee Police Department that interacts positively with the community. Since then, he has hosted several Town Hall events and has produced videos on the City’s Facebook page. Walsh said he quickly agreed to participate in an event he believes is right in line with the policy of community policing his department will display when it launches July 1.

“Watching that video [of the Floyd death] made me sick to my stomach,” Walsh said. “As a community, we’ve got to talk. We can’t put our head in the sand. People are hurting and they’re angry. Even if this just involved the death of Mr. Floyd, this should never happen. But there’s a lot more involved than that.

“The community needs to know who I am, how I feel, and the culture we are creating for our police department. We will be part of the community, not some occupying force.”

Walsh said he has refrained from making public statements because his department has not yet officially replaced the Sheriff’s Department in local law enforcement. He believes now it’s time to speak out, even though he knows that ultimately, actions will speak louder than words.

“Several months ago I spoke at an event in Quail Valley,” Walsh said. “A very nice lady came up to me and said, ‘I like what you’re saying, but I’ll believe it when I see it.’ I can be out there waving pom poms, but in 28 days we have to show what we’re talking about.”

The View church has a membership of about 1,800 in its congregation, which Perkins says is about 65 percent African American. The church began in Temecula 25 years ago and opened what was planned as a satellite campus in the Sun City community. The church eventually bought the former United Church of Christ property and now operates its main hub at the location, with online broadcasts serving an even larger community.

Perkins, an African American himself, said he believes it’s important to participate in a discussion about such important issues.

“I want to give a voice and perspective on the event of three killings recently," Perkins said. "It was not just George Floyd. This event will come on the heels of three incidents in two weeks. To see how African American men are treated in comparison to Caucasian men is extremely disturbing. I saw the video of Mr. Floyd’s treatment, then I saw a picture of a white man under custody who was sitting on the ground being given water by an officer.

“There is a very disparate impact. I’m hopeful our new police chief and others are open to acknowledging who we are and how we can move forward.”