The Phillips Center for the Performing Arts stage was split Tuesday night: on one side, an outspoken civil rights activist, and on the other, a former police chief with a controversial past. But the night was surprisingly mild.
Rev. Al Sharpton and former New York City Police commissioner Ray Kelly agreed policing in the U.S. had to be improved and minorities are disproportionately targeted in front of about 500 students and Gainesville residents. They also discussed race and gun violence.
Accent Speaker’s Bureau brought the men side by side and paid them a combined $60,000.
Students thought they had it figured out: The men would argue passionately, they assumed.
Sharpton believes in radical police reform and has been criticized for making derogatory comments against white, Mormon and Jewish people. Kelly believes in the rights of police officers and has been criticized for the "stop-and-frisk" procedure, in which officers may pat those they believe to be suspicious.
UF law professor and the event’s mediator Katheryn Russell-Brown asked the speakers about the relationship between race and policing and included questions from student submissions.
Both touched on prominent incidents of what some call police brutality, including the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, both black men.
Sharpton said police tend to target minorities disproportionately, and the black community is most vulnerable.
"We want them to treat us like they do any other community," Sharpton said.
But Kelly argued that sometimes people’s emotions cloud facts.
He used Brown’s case as an example, as the teenager’s death lead to a series of riots in Ferguson, Missouri.
Kelly said this led to a "Ferguson effect," which made officers hesitant to do their jobs for fear of being persecuted.
"In my experience, the police have come a long way and are better now than ever before," Kelly said.
But, he said officers also need to be screened more thoroughly to make sure not just anyone receives a badge and a gun.
"We give police officers a tremendous power, literally the power of life and death," Kelly said.
Four University Police vehicles were parked outside the Phillips Center. At the front door, a group of about five officers stood at attention. While one checked bags with a flashlight, another searched the inside with a bomb-sniffing police dog named Boomer.
When Sharpton was initially booked as a speaker, the event’s Facebook page flooded with critics’ comments, with many arguing he’s undeserving to speak at the university.
UF astronomy sophomore Megan Newsome said she hoped both speakers, however different in their views, could help the other gain perspective.
"I’m hoping one convinces the other of something," the 19-year-old said.
Gabriela Willis, a self-described Sharpton opposer and UF political science senior, said hearing from people you disagree with is an important step to understanding them.
Although she said she finds Sharpton’s views to be extreme, they’re valuable.
"It gets conversations started," the 21-year-old said.
Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo
Rev. Al Sharpton, right, and former New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly speak at ACCENT Speakers Bureau’s “A Conversation on Policing, Gun Violence, and Civil Rights” event Nov. 17, 2015, in the Phillips Center.
