Problem
On Wednesday November 7th, City of Kirkland Police responded to a call to Menchie's (a frozen yogurt shop) in the Totem Lake area of Kirkland, WA after store employees complained of a "suspicious" man sitting in the yogurt shop. The man in the shop was Byron Ragland, an African-American U.S. Air Force veteran who was simply doing his job—a job he is legally required to do. Mr. Ragland is a court-appointed special advocate and visitation supervisor and he was supervising a mother and her son at Menchie's. The Police officers may have been obligated to show up for the call, but upon realizing that Mr. Ragland was in no way a threat or "suspicious", they should have gone out of their way to make sure Byron felt welcome and they should have acknowledged the mistake by the store employees. According to Mr. Ragland, he was asked by the officers to “move along”. There is no place for racial bias in a police department. The City of Kirkland Police Department and Chief Cherie Harris must act now. *Note: The department has committed to an investigation, but they must be held accountable to acknowledging their mishandling of this situation and to doing everything they can to ensure this never happens again.

This event was initially covered by Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times and can be read here.

Solution
As residents of the City of Kirkland and beyond, we demand that the City of Kirkland Police and Police Chief Cherie Harris acknowledge that the situation with Byron Ragland was handled inappropriately by the City of Kirkland Police officers  and that they issue a formal apology to Mr. Ragland. We also demand that the Department commit to enforcing mandatory racial bias training for their officers and to and extend policies that mandate that racial bias is not tolerated. In 2017, the City of Kirkland unanimously voted for--and passed--an ordinance proclaiming Kirkland a "Safe, Inclusive, and Welcoming City for Everyone". The ordinance also mandates that Kirkland's City services "provide everyone in Kirkland – residents, workers and visitors alike – with the full range of City services, including police and fire services, without discrimination regardless of race, ethnicity or immigration status." We acknowledge that the City of Kirkland PD has committed to an investigation into this matter, however, an apology and additional training for officers must happen.

Personal story
As a father of three mixed-race daughters, and the husband of an African-American woman, I refuse to sit by and watch racism and bigotry in our Country, State, and in our City of Kirkland. It's not fair to our friends, families, and neighbors of color for them to have to continue to deal with racism and bigotry. We need to learn from mistakes like this and as a society we need to take steps to make it better. Those of us fortunate to not have to feel the effects of racism cannot begin to understand the sheer pain and hurt it makes its victims live with daily.