LaTasha Jackson-McDougle
When LaTasha Jackson-McDougle was just over a year old, her father stalked and killed her mother and himself, leaving her alone in a car, where the police later found her.
Jackson-McDougle’s experiences would later lead her to found Cheryl’s Voice, a local nonprofit organization — named after her mother, Cheryl Williams-Sadler — that works to raise awareness of domestic violence and teen dating violence. Along with helping people understand and cope with trauma from domestic violence, Jackson-McDougle often speaks to the community about dating violence and sex trafficking.
But these days, she's also been outspoken about race and law enforcement following the death of George Floyd. She shared her thoughts on the impact of race in police activity, misconceptions about domestic violence, and the recent protests.
FW MAG: Given your experience as the founder of Cheryl’s Voice and your academic background in criminal justice, what is your take on the recent protests occurring across the country in response to the death of George Floyd and others?
LJM: It's almost like every day, every other day, I’m seeing an article that says this person was unarmed, and they were killed by the police. This has been happening. This is nothing new. As an African-American person, I see it all the time.
I think when people saw that video … saw him just taken that way so cruelly, anybody that has a pulse should be appalled by that. It’s not just black people that are standing up saying that we’re against this, but we have allies that are saying they’re against this. It’s about time that everyone gets on the same page and says, “This is not OK. We have to do something across our nation.”
We should love our police officers, that’s first and foremost. We should not be in fear … It’s not a crusade against police officers; it’s a crusade against people that are wearing a badge, that have ulterior motives, like they are looking for people that they feel are lesser-than, that they can use their badge to hurt. And that’s what the problem is.
You know people are tired. We’re tired of seeing someone killed in the street, and we’re supposed to just ignore it or feel like we’re lesser-than. And so, seeing that was really heartbreaking, and it’s real, and people want to make excuses for it or act like we should not care about it. It’s been heartbreaking to see and hear, when I would think that everyone would say, “You know what, African-Americans deserve to be treated equally across the board.”
And lastly, this is not just about George Floyd. This is about the endless years of oppression. I work in the criminal justice system. I’ve seen cases where — same person, same criminal background — they may not have ever been arrested before, committed the same offense, but one’s white, one’s black, one’s Hispanic. All three of them are going to get different sentences by the same person. That’s a problem. And that’s another reason why these marches are going on.
Because you’re black, you’re getting a heavier sentence versus someone who is not. We need to take a step back and look at the real deal and say, “This is not OK. We need to make some policy changes. We need to join together.” A lot of people are trying to say the Black Lives Matter movement is about division. It’s really about unity. We can’t do it if we don’t have unity and equality on social justice. That’s what this is about.
So, I see it, it’s heartbreaking, it’s tough to watch, it’s been like that for years. Being in the field that I’m in, and being in different positions that I’ve been in, it’s nothing made up. There are excellent cops out there, and I think we need to make more of them and less of the bad ones.
FW MAG: Some protestors are calling for a defunding of the police. How do you think a decrease in funding could affect domestic violence victims and abusers?
LJM: It’s going to affect them tremendously because — and now I’m speaking from a standpoint of someone who has worked all the areas and being an African-American person as well — I see all ends of the situation. I understand why people are thinking, “OK, we need to defund the police,” because they feel like they need to reallocate those funds to reform and have better police officers on the force — that I agree with.
However, the bigger picture is, how is it going to affect the entire community? What happens is, when the funding is cut, the first positions that pretty much get cut are going to be community-involved positions. If they have a position that’s more like a liaison that shows up on a domestic violence call, and pulls the victim to the side, gets them a resource, calls them later or follows up with them — victim’s assistance, those types of things — those programs will start going away because they can’t continue to fund it, so they’ll just not have it. There was a time in my life when those programs didn’t exist.
I understand that, yes, there is a component of the police department that definitely needs to improve, and I really hope that to happen, but I don’t want to hurt victims that are also getting services when it comes to domestic violence or even trafficking.
That’s another unit that will be impacted — the sex trafficking unit. If those funds are not available for them to work those cases, they’re not going to be able to do that, so I don’t necessarily agree with defunding. I do think it probably needs to be a meeting and a conversation of how we can make sure that more funds are going to the community or into services. And to educate officers that are out there in the field is what the funds need to do, versus just saying, “Defund.”
FW MAG: What are some things that people often misunderstand about domestic violence and law enforcement?
LJM: A lot of times, police officers or people that are in law enforcement feel like the victims choose to stay or they don’t want any help. They also misunderstand that if the child is really young, that they’re not affected. If they show up and they see a baby right there when all this is going on, they don’t even think, “Hey, maybe I should call CPS,” or any of that, because they see that the child is young. So, those things are usually the misconception of law enforcement.
However, I will say law enforcement is getting better. They’re educating themselves on what domestic violence really looks like and understanding that the question shouldn’t be, “Why is the victim staying?” It should be, “Why is the person abusing?” Here in Tarrant County, you will see more offenders getting arrested for domestic violence, more services being provided for both parts, and we’re taking an approach that’s working with the abuser versus trying to shame or be negative toward the victim, if that makes sense. On the law enforcement standpoint, what I see and hear is a lot of victims sometimes have a hard time getting services from police officers.
I think across the board, law enforcement needs to be more consistent when they respond to those calls and provide a better service for victims, so we can decrease our homicide rate.
Supporters of Cheryl's Voice gather at an event that took place on the alley where LaTasha Jackson-McDougle's mother, Cheryl, was murdered and her father committed suicide.
FW MAG: What roles do law enforcement officers play in domestic violence situations?
LJM: I would say the biggest role that they play is often a safety net. A lot of times, the victim is not the person who calls. Sometimes it’s a neighbor or someone that heard it or saw it. But if the victim is calling, when the officer arrives — taking the moment to separate them both, and really interview that victim, making them feel safe and know that it’s not their fault.
It’s almost like social working honestly. When they show up, one, they need to be on guard because it is high risk, just showing up in the middle of someone having a domestic dispute. But the victim is needing the officer to be more understanding in their questioning and make sure that they are not picking sides and providing a resource. And so, the next part of that is providing a resource to the survivors, so they will have to be connected with the community to know what resource to give.
The officer is showing up. If they need to make an arrest, they will do that. But then, they immediately are to transition into a role where they’re giving a resource to victims, seeing if the children need any assistance, or checking them out to make sure they’re good before they even leave the scene. They’re securing those things and making sure that the person is safe, has a place to go, or has a number to call at the least.
FW MAG: How does race factor into interactions between domestic violence victims, abusers, and law enforcement officials?
LJM: A lot of times — and this is just speaking from victims that I’ve worked with over the years — if the victim is a white female and the abuser is African-American, oh, they’re going to be quickly taken in, no problem, report written, the victim gets services really, really quickly. However, if it’s the other way around, it has been a lot harder for victims to get a resource.
That goes back to officers checking their own biases at the door and seeing people as humans and not for their color. I think if you’re a police officer, you shouldn’t see color; you should see a human. If you’re responding to a domestic violence call, it doesn’t matter what race that person is; you need to look at the facts and address the situation and move forward. Again, this is not a statement saying that all cops are doing this, but it’s a statement that’s saying that there are some that are not good, and their fellow officers that are good need to call them out and get them some help, whether they need to be off the force, or they need to be educated when it comes to those things. But you can’t be biased and do that job because it puts a lot of good officers at risk.
I have a lot of friends that love their job. They’re passionate. They’re not biased. They love everyone. They do their jobs every day with passion, and I feel so sad for them to get lumped in with negative comments, when I know they’re great officers. And so, I think that the great officers really need to call out the bad ones so they don’t get lumped into that situation.
This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
