“If we can’t sit down and talk, we don’t have much of a chance to change the dynamic. No one wants to come to work and use a firearm.” 

—  San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Police Chief Bill Scott

On August 28th, there was an Officer involved shooting in the Tenderloin neighborhood. GLIDE believes in coming together with truth and unconditional love when something threatens our community’s safety and wellbeing.  

Honest and transparent dialogue is an essential part of healing and reconciliation. To acknowledge the pain and fear this event caused, we convened a public meeting with community members and SFPD Officers, including Police Chief William Scott.  

We identified three ways for the Tenderloin Community and Police Department to work together to prevent this from happening again: 

1) Work with the SFPD to the better understand entrenched forms of systemic racism, including shared trips to the Legacy Museum in Alabama 

2) Participate in ongoing race and reconciliation workshops with Officers 

3) Host ongoing community meetings to maintain consistent communication between residents and the Tenderloin Police Station under the leadership of Captain Sergio Chin. 

(Del Seymour of Code Tenderloin and GLIDE’s Rabbi Michael Lezak in conversation with SFPD Chief Bill Scott)

We appreciate being part of a community that discusses difficult topics to end violence and create a more just and equitable world. In the words of our Minister of Celebration, Marvin K White, we must ask ourselves, “A bullet is always a question. How did we get here?”  

If you are interested in systems change work like this, we invite you to be part of GLIDE’s Center for Social Justice (CSJ) and join us in this movement.  Keep checking back on our Officer and a Mensch program, designed to provide local law enforcement  with the opportunity of gaining greater understanding and empathy with historically oppressed communities.

This work, in its ultimate form, allows us to remain hopeful that things can change.  

As Dr. Holly Joshi, our Senior Director for CSJ stated so eloquently, “Loving and hopeful is what GLIDE has always been.”