Warrensville Heights, Ohio, Police Officer Nakia Jones has a lot to say about the killing of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday, she took her fellow officers in blue to task.
Jones, like so many other people, is disgusted that police officers are killing black people like it's open season. Jones, who's the only black female police officer on the Warrensville Heights force, pointed out not only the oath that cops take but also how some of them have gone against it.
“It bothers me when I hear people say, ‘Y’all police officers this, y’all police officers that.’ They put us in this negative category when I’m saying to myself, ‘I’m not that type of police officer.’ I know officers that are like me that would give their life for other people. So I’m looking at it, and it tore me up because I got to see what you all see. If I wasn’t a police officer and I wasn’t on the inside, I would be saying, ‘Look at this racist stuff. Look at this.’ And it hurt me.”
"If you are white and you're working in a black community and you are racist, you need to be ashamed of yourself," Jones said in the video. "You stood up there and took an oath. If this is not where you want to work, then you need to take your behind somewhere else."
Jones said she was inspired to become a police officer while growing up in East Cleveland.
"The reason I became a police officer is to make a difference in people's lives," she said. "I know what it's like to have a parent on drugs. I know what it's like to watch people be picked on and bullied and all kinds of things. I said I wanted to make a difference and I want to be that change, so I became that change."