In the Truth of Our Stories: Toward an Anti-Racist Practice of Public Safety

MAOL 2023 Graduate Thomas Walsh shares his research on Anti-Racist practices in Public Safety.

My professional world was rocked in September, 2017, when a white security guard reported that he was shot by a Black man. In reality, that security guard shot himself with a gun he was not supposed to have. He made up the story about the Black man shooting him. That white security guard was my training officer; I spent two weeks with him learning how to do my job.

The ethos of public safety in the United States has been directly related to white supremacy since the United States was founded (Seigel, 2017; Boyd, 2020; Braga, Brunson, & Drakulich, 2019). Police officers have inflicted trauma on Black bodies for generations, and that trauma lives both in the stories we tell and physically within our bodies (Menakem, 2017).

I wanted to learn how public safety professionals learn and practice antiracism in systems built on white supremacy. I wanted to give public safety professionals some tools to address the trauma that white supremacy leaves in its wake. To do so, I led a book study on Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands (2017). I chose this book due to the nature of the material it covers, and its importance to this topic. I recruited three white volunteers from a public safety department at a small, liberal arts university, and after conducting a preliminary survey to gauge my participants’ current attitudes on the subject, I facilitated four group discussions on the first two sections of the book: “Unarmed and Dismembered”, and “Remembering Ourselves”. I concluded my research with an exit interview with each participant to learn how my participants felt the process has been for them.

Public safety professionals learn and practice antiracism within systems built on white supremacy by: learning to recognize trauma both in themselves and others; by training on crisis intervention to promote a kinship of public safety professionals that have processed their trauma; by practicing slowing down to be more mindful members of society and their places of work; by promoting adaptability and a helpful-mindset instead of an enforcement-mindset when responding to calls; and by taking active roles in their workplaces to lead the communities they serve in processing historical, generational trauma.

Thomas Walsh is a public safety professional with 9 years of front-line and supervisory experience. He is also a Certified Protection Officer, certified in Security Supervision and Management through the International Foundation of Protection Officers. For the past several years, he has been trying to integrate antiracist principles into his practice. To read the entire study, contact Thomas at [email protected].

The St. Kate's MAOL Alumni Research Series showcases the work of MAOL graduates, sharing valuable leadership learning within our network of students, faculty, and alumni - and with the broader community. The Spring/Summer 2023 edition is managed and edited by Keri Nadeau , MAOL student ('24) and Graduate Trainee Assistant. To contact Keri, email [email protected]