WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, OHIO: A black female police officer in suburban Cleveland said in a video posted on Facebook she was so upset after watching the fatal police shooting of a black man in Louisiana that she wanted to quit.
Nakia Jones, who says she is the only black female officer in Warrensville Heights, said she became an officer to make a difference in people’s lives.
“If you are white and you’re working in a black community and you are racist, you need to be ashamed of yourself,” Jones said in the video. “You stood up there and took an oath. If this is not where you want to work, then you need to take your behind somewhere else.”
Her impassioned reaction had been watched more than 3 million times since it was posted to her personal Facebook page Wednesday. Messages were left with the police department and the officer.
Alton Sterling, 37, was shot early Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as he wrestled with two white police officers outside a convenience store. Police say he was armed.
Cellphone video of the shooting posted online by a community activist set off angry protests. It was not clear whether Sterling had the gun in his hand or was reaching for it when he was shot.
Louisiana’s governor asked the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to lead a civil rights investigation into the killing.
Jones said the video of the shooting opened her eyes.
“I got to see what you all see,” she said. “If I wasn’t a police officer and I wasn’t on the inside, I’d be saying, ‘Look at this racist.”’
She also called on blacks to stop killing each other and to put down their guns. “Why would you want to destroy your community?” she said.