6 Questions: John DeLuca sits down with NAACP Pres. Jim Vincent

January 7, 2016 9:15 pm

By News Staff

6 Questions with John DeLuca

Jim Vincent has been out front for the local chapter of the NAACP since 2011 advocating against discrimination, bias, and racism, giving a voice to the voiceless. In 2016, the high profile volunteer job is more important than ever.

In this week’s "6 Questions" segment with John DeLuca, Vincent discusses the challenge of recruiting African Americans to the police force, how Rhode Island is doing in that effort, and if he thinks we would ever see a Ferguson Missouri type situation here in Rhode Island.

"How difficult is it to recruit, to even outreach, or get people of color interested in the law enforcement field just to have a force that represents the community it polices?" asks John.

"It can be difficult because of what’s going on nationally, but you can’t throw up your hands and say, ‘why bother?’ You have to constantly go out and work in the community to make sure that people know that being in law enforcement is an excellent career path," says Vincent.

"Do they feel like they wouldn’t fit in? Do they feel like it’s not a place for them?" John adds.

"Well there’s some resentment. There’s resentment that there are too many people that put on the uniform, put on the badge, that don’t represent their profession. They don’t act professionally," says Vincent.

"How is Providence doing? How is Rhode Island doing in that way… in recruiting officers?" asks John.

"I think Rhode Island’s doing well. I think in Providence, the last two classes, I think, were more diverse than any class previous in history. I can’t tell you about other departments, but I’ve had at least eight or nine chiefs that have called me and said, ‘Jim, I need your help. I need the NAACP’s help. I need other organizations to help us in recruitment,’ so I’m encouraged by that," Vincent explains.

"I realize this is difficult to talk about in a hypothetical sense, but in your opinion, in what you’ve seen in Rhode Island, do you ever see something like what happened in Baltimore and Ferguson and Chicago happening in Rhode Island?" asks John.

"Anything like that can happen anywhere. So, you know, Rhode Island is no magical place where we’re immune to national trends or national happenings," says Vincent. "However, one thing that’s different here is that the police and the community have been working together to try to make sure we have a better understanding for the last several years, and I’m not so sure that that has happened in Chicago, Baltimore, Ferguson."

As of now, the highest ranking African American at the Providence Police Department is a sergeant. Vincent and others say having an African American appointed to the command staff as a major would go a long way towards creating a stronger relationship between the department and the black community.

"How do you balance skipping Lieutenant and Captain,versus the needs of what you’re talking about, versus the morale of the other officers and in the idea that ‘Oh, he only got the job because he’s Black?’" asks John.

"Well, I think it depends on who’s picked. You know, if the person who’s picked is a quality person–and we wouldn’t be talking about anybody other than a quality person–then that argument goes out the window," says Vincent. "You know, you have the morale of the Police Department, always. You have to think about that, but what you got to think about more is the morale of the city of Providence; the people that live there, people that vote there, that pay taxes there. Their morale, I think, is of the utmost importance."

John and Jim also discussed President Obama, and how he will be remembered in history. Vincent thinks he’ll be remembered very favorably. Vincent is set to be a guest of Senator Reed at the president’s State of the Union next week.

They also discussed the dismal test results for inner city students on the PARCC standardized test. Vincent said the K-12 system in Rhode Island has major problems that have to be addressed now.

As his current 2-year term as head of the local NAACP is up this year, Vincent plans to run for re-election again in December.