On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. city officials of Weirton, WV met with a group of African-American pastors and community leaders to discuss the negative events that happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN involving the abuse of police power that was demonstrated in the video that has now been seen worldwide.
It is believed that the purpose of the demonstrations, protests, and rioting has been to create a dialogue between city officials and the community. The African-American pastors and community leaders along with city officials wanted to be proactive to ensure that those types of events do not happen in our area, and are grateful that nothing like that was needed in order to create dialogue.
Among the meeting attendees were Mayor Harold E. Miller; City Manager Joseph B. DiBartolomeo; Police Chief A. R. Alexander, III; Assistant City Manager DeeAnn Pulliam; Mr. Rickey Thompson (Organizer); Rev. Rudy McAllister (Mt. Olive Baptist Church); Rev. James Brown (Morning Star Baptist Church); Deacon Kenneth Miller (Mt. Olive Baptist Church); Pastor Sam Williams (Christ the King); Ms. Earlene Jones (Dunbar Center Affairs & Member of Mt. Olive);Dr. D. W. Cummings (Shiloh Apostolic Faith Assembly); and Latisha R. Cummings (Church Administrator for Shiloh Apostolic Faith Assembly). In the meeting, attendees discussed police training to handle such situations and methods of reporting the incidents. The spirit of transparency was apparent.
Because of this meeting, a line of communication has been open between the city officials and the African-American pastors and community leaders, and will continue to remain open by having quarterly meetings. All attending believed that this was a good outcome and appreciative of each other’s time and efforts.
