MUSKEGON, Mich. — Wednesday in Muskegon, community members came together with a common goal: to break down barriers between young people and police.
Michigan State Police, Muskegon Police and Muskegon Heights Police, along with community leaders and more than a dozen Muskegon High School students took a simple walk together.
It was a half day at school for Muskegon. But not everyone left right away. Some students stayed after to go on a unity walk with local law enforcement.
The walk was put on by Gaining Unity through Nonviolent Solutions, or G.U.N.S. and the Muskegon High School's Social Actions for Emotions, or S.A.F.E. programs.
It was a simple walk with a greater purpose.
“It gives our students a voice here,” Assistant Principal Bernard Loudermill said.
Those voices, important and not forgotten. FOX 17 put a microphone on one student, Jaynarri Harris-Wade.
“I’ve never had like a bad situation with an officer, because I’ve never done anything illegal. But I know Officer Martinez, and he’s a pretty good guy. Or Officer Foster, our fave. You’re pretty cool too,” Jaynarri Harris-Wade said to Muskegon Police Sergeant Jeff Felenski.
“We have to hold ourselves to a certain standard and I think that’s being done now more than ever before,” Sergeant Felenski said.
“I think the only way you can open up the minds of people who really don’t like police, is to try to understand them. I think that’s the only way anyone is able to move forward with each other, is understanding,” Harris-Wade said.
The common theme of the walk-and-talk: unity, and not painting community with a broad stroke. Students got to meet adult leaders in their community who cared to listen. The topic of discussion for Jaynarri and Officer Felenski: policing in America.
“I feel like now it’s becoming an everybody thing. It’s not projected as a one-person thing. It’s an everybody thing,” Jaynarri said.
“But it should have been that way all along," Sergeant Felenski said.
Find Gaining Unity through Nonviolent Solutions here.
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