Elkhart reacts to violent week in U.S. history

The city with a heart says theirs hangs heavy today.

A variety of residents of different professions and races say it is a devastating time in our country but they have different views on how the country can improve. 

“It seems as though America has gone mad,” says Curtis Hill, Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney.
 
“It’s becoming a war,” says Don Brown a NAACP member. 
 
“I felt grieved for them,” says Reverend Amy DeBeck of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Elkhart.

“It’s a horrible situation,” says Sergeant Chris Snyder of the Elkhart Police Department.

Citizens of Elkhart agree the violence that erupted this week hits every community nationwide.

“Ya know crime can happen anywhere at any time,” says Sergeant Snyder. 
 
After a gunman killed five officers in Dallas because he was angered by police-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota local leaders hope Elkhart County will remain united.

“This country was designed to be a melting pot and yet there is so much effort being made to segregate us away from that pot,” says Hill. 
 
Hill says labeling is a key factor in racial tension and with decades in the courtroom he knows the importance of being impartial.
 
“Black this, gay that, white that, female this, again it’s about America. America is one group bound by freedom," says Hill.  
 
But some say statistics make it hard not to look at race.
 
“It seems like there is a genocide going on that’s killing black young males,” says Brown.  
 
Brown was out today passing out cards that show people how to deal with getting pulled over by the police.

“The police department needs to rely on citizens and the community need to rely on the police department and we have to build a better relationship because we all family,” says Brown.
 
On Friday Reverend DeBeck showed her support for law enforcement by bringing the Elkhart Police flowers and baked goods but says her work doesn’t end there.
 
“As a white pastor of a mostly white congregation we have to learn how to be better allies how to understand what institutional racism looks like,” says DeBeck.