In April, four people of color were killed when a man opened fire outside and inside of a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee.

This is also the latest incident to garner negative attention at a Waffle House. Despite the recent attention to cases like these, the dangers of calling the police on black people have deep and historical roots. Just this week, a white graduate student at Yale called the police on a black student who was sleeping in the common room of their shared dormitory. At the end of April, three black Airbnb guests were stopped by police after a white woman reported them as burglary suspects they spoke at a May 10 press conference about their experience. In early April, Saheed Vassell was shot and killed by police in Brooklyn who mistook a pipe in his hand for a gun. The mother of twin boys currently lives in Prince George’s County, Maryland.The incident is the latest in a recent string of altercations that have taken place between police and black people. She is the past chairperson of the National Black Police Association. Pruitt said we need to look into police hiring practices, who’s doing the hiring and who’s in charge of obtaining background information. What the community wants to know is why Black people are dying at the hands and knees of police when we’re not seeing anyone else dying that way,” she said. The community already knows that police have to make split second decisions. “The community already knows that there are good officers. She said they have a tendency to patronize the community. Pruitt also believes that police leadership is not doing all they can to help usher in change. We need people to enter the force and help become what the people really want.” “Things are going to change despite what police officers who are reluctant to change feel,” and when that change happens she said, “We need young Black men, women, Asians, Latinos. Although the two time breast cancer survivor retired from policing in 2020, she encourages young people to consider law enforcement as a career. It was very difficult for me to climb the ladder after I passed sergeant,” she said.īut Pruitt persevered and when she was finally promoted to captain in 2019, she said, “surprise, surprise, I was sent to midnights.” Pruitt said this is not an uncommon place for Black women law enforcement officers.Īfter 16 months, she decided it was time to move on to other pursuits. “There was a lot of hypocrisy and double standards. Pruitt said her rise to captain was a difficult one. to attend Howard University, her alma mater. The native North Carolinian is the daughter of a police officer who came to Washington, D.C. She’s the first Black woman police officer in Montgomery County to achieve the rank of captain. Not only does Pruitt want to teach that history, but she’s also a history maker. Retired Montgomery County Police Captain Sonia Pruitt believes her goal is to partner with other law enforcement professionals to teach that history through an organization she founded called, ‘The Black Police Experience.’ Business & Finance Click to expand menu.įrom slave patrols to choke holds, there’s a place in history where race intersects with policing.

Photo police choke black women