ORLANDO, Fla. – Black Lives Matter protests have slowed down across Central Florida, but the pain that prompted the protests is far from gone.
That is the driving force behind a virtual town hall Monday evening focused on bringing people together over the issues that are driving them apart.
Orlando City Commissioners Regina Hill and Bakari Burns are hosting the conversation to engage more with the community. They wanted to hear concerns from community leaders, activists and concerned citizens about race relations and how to better bridge the gap.
“After the protest, what’s next, and we want to make sure the what’s next is all inclusive,” Hill said.
“We want to get the input from the community on how we as a community moves forward,” Burns said. “There are a lot of things that need to be changed -- a lot of institutional racism, systematic racism.”
They’re also organizing educational sessions for children at a few community centers possibly this week on black history.
“We want to make sure they know their history, and know why people are protesting and know what happened. They may have questions about George Floyd,” Hill said.
In addition, Burns said now more than ever more, training for police is key. He said while speaking with a few black police officers it goes even beyond that.
“One particular gentleman told me there needs to be some training for the trainers,” Burns said. “We need to focus on those providing the training to the new recruits, so we can ensure they’re not picking up bad habits.”
You can find out more about the community conversation, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Monday, here.
This comes after News 6 hosted a Juneteenth town hall Friday where viewers got a chance to ask questions about race relations. You can rewatch that at ClickOrlando.com/Juneteenth.