July 12, 2016
Andre Fooks/Facebook
Andre Fooks, pictured right, poses with Winslow Township Police Chief George Smith as a part of their #PicsForPeace campaign.
A South Jersey man is challenging people to post pictures of themselves with members of their community and police officers to promote peace and unity in the wake of the recent shootings of black men at the hands of police officers and the massacre of five officers in Dallas.
In a Facebook post, Andre Fooks, of Winslow Township, posted a photo of him with Winslow Police Chief George Smith and wrote:
Not every Black person is a thug, Not every White person is racist, Not every Spanish/Latino person steals, and Not every Police Officer is dirty. It is a simple fact that sometimes people do really BAD things for no GOOD reason. We met with George Smith, the Chief of Police of Winslow Township, to discuss what's going on in the world today, and the disconnect between the Community and Law Enforcement, after a long conversation, we came up with a simple solution, a challenge, it doesn't take that much to make an impact. So here's the challenge: Take a picture with a random person of a different race, or a police officer and post it with the hashtag #PicsForPeace . Oh POLICE OFFICERS, this goes for you too, SHARE THIS and ACCEPT the challenge and lets make a difference in America!
The post has gotten more than 1,600 likes and nearly 1,000 shares and has sparked numerous #PicsForPeace photos.
Fooks is an intern for "The Preston and Steve Show" on 93.3 WMMR, and the show said in a blog post that it was proud of him and thanked the Winslow Township Police Department.
In an interview with FOX29, Fooks said he and Smith had a two-hour conversation about how police were working to address police brutality and how Fooks could help.
Fooks and Smith hope the campaign promotes unity and sparks conversations.
You can watch the interview below:
