TACOMA, Wash. — “Never in the history of mankind has one human being been upset at another for listening to them,” says Tacoma’s Kwabi Amoah-Forson, a community activist who drives the “Peace Bus” all over the South Sound. “Listening is vital.”
Amoah-Forson has spent the past few months delivering breakfast cereal to hungry kids and socks to the homeless. He does more than listen but he says listening is a good first step, especially for anyone who wants to understand the protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
“The protests we've been seeing and the riots that we've been seeing are a direct result of the anger and frustration felt in the hearts of those who have been unheard,” he says.
“I know that there are people out there that are causing riots for the sake of calamity and they're not for the betterment of African Americans moving forward."
“I know that there are police officers that are doing a great job. They want to do good and we're going to need their help as well. We're going to need them to speak up and we’re going to need cultural competency training. In every single police department in America there should be something in place so a neighborhood and the police department can come together and have a conversation. How can we go about having peace if we can't talk to each other?”
Amoah-Forson is a problem solver. He says a solution to racial injustice can be found with the help of allies.
“What we need is a new movement embedded in peace, love and understanding,” he says. “And to understand is to act. If people truly understand the African American experience they will act. There's no other choice .You have to act. And so I'm asking white Americans to understand me and to learn about me and to validate me and to know about me. My name is Kwabi and I do drive the Peace Bus.”
Amoah-Forson says he wouldn’t be driving the Peace Bus if he didn’t believe peace is possible.
“There is a place for hope. As long as there's love, there's hope.I have love in my heart. I believe that because of that there's hope.JFK said most of the problems that we have are man-made and therefore they can be solved by man. Racism is man-made and therefore we can solve it together."
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