Farewell to Chief Larry Boone

What do the cities of Nashville, Sacramento, Boston, Memphis, and Norfolk have in common? They have all hired African American police chiefs. And all of these "top cops" had a negative run-in with law enforcement in their youth. Now they, among many others, have decided to change the culture of policing from the inside, amid backlash from officers and the Black community. On one of his final interviews before leaving Hampton Roads, former Norfolk police chief Larry Boone talks about the challenges of "policing while Black"; changing the attitudes and biases of overzealous officers, while at the same time convincing Black and Brown communties that change is possible but takes time. As one police chief put it, "I'd be called a coon, a sellout, Uncle Tom by the Black community. I'd be discriminated against in many different ways by non-Black communities". So why do they do it? Chief Larry Boone shares candid insight with Another View.