A Black Lives Matter organization in Washington, D.C. is taking a shot at Wichita’s First Step Community Cook Out that took place last Sunday.
A tweet sent out by the Washington organization said, “This is not in line with our principles.”
The voice and dance moves of Wichita Police Officer Aaron Moses has amassed more than 17 million views and more than 94,000 shares on Facebook so far.
But, the lighthearted video has come with quite a bit of backlash.
“For us, it’s been a really good week, and a really bad week at the same time,” said Djuan Wash with Sunflower Community Action. His organization took a leadership role in setting up the event.
Wash and A.J. Bohannon are among community organizers with the Wichita alliance who have received a whirlwind of comments over the past several days from the viral video taken at the First Step Cook Out. Those have been mixed with both praise and hate.
Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay says communication is important.
“Bringing in community leaders is critical for our success, not only for the police department, but for the city as a whole,” said Ramsay.
Regardless of the backlash from Washington, both men feel Sunday’s cook out was a step in the right direction.
“We need more police chiefs like Chief Ramsay to be willing to have these tough conversations with people in the community, but also put words to action,” Wash said.
