A Wichita, Kansas police officer is quickly becoming an Internet sensation after a video showing him dancing for a group of young people at a Black Lives Matter cookout went viral.
Officer Aaron Moses attended a First Steps Community Cookout in Wichita Sunday afternoon. He was videoed dancing to the “Cha-Cha Slide” with a group of activists, KSN NBC3 reported.
“Someone approached me last night and told me I’m ‘Officer Brown with the get down’ is their name for me,” Moses told KSN reporter Emily Younger.
The Wichita police officer told the reporter about his lifelong dreams of being a police officer. He also talked about his work to understand and relate to the minority community.
“I will never grow up and not know what it’s like to trust a police officer and I think once you realize that, its a pretty profound thing that affects the way you do everything,” he told Younger. “I will never know what it’s like to grow up in a minority community, but I can try my hardest to serve them the best I can.”
His actions reflect the comments made by East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux following the murder of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“This is not so much about gun control as it is what’s in men’s hearts,” Sheriff Gautreaux said in a statement following the shooting by Gavin Long that left three officers dead and three others wounded, Breitbart News reported.
“With God’s help, we will get through this,” he said.
Moses was honored in May during a ceremony at the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police meeting along with three of his fellow officers for heroic lifesaving efforts, according to the Wichita Kansas Police Department’s Facebook page.
Officer Aaron Moses, Officer Brek Train, Officer Dane Myers, and Officer Zachary Gehring received the Gold Award for their lifesaving efforts when they jumped into a frozen pond to save two people from a car that was quickly sinking, the department reported.
Officer Moses is taking the duty of winning the hearts and minds seriously while interjecting humor. “If I need to dance a little goofy and do the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ to help people see that I’m a real person that I do care and that I trust you, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Moses told the Wichita NBC affiliate. “Until we build an atmosphere of trust, care and compassion with the people we serve and those people accept that and trust in us, nothing is going to get better.”
Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay meets with members of the black community during cookout. (Photo: Wichita Police Department)
The First Steps Community Cookout came about after Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay had a met with activist A.J. Bohannon and others with of the local Black Lives Matter movement, NPR’s Bill Chappell reported.
A police protest had been planned, but after the meeting all agreed that an event in the park where police and members of the minority community could meet, share a meal, and share their ideas would be a better way to heal the communities following the murder of the Baton Rouge and Dallas officers, and the deaths of blacks that occur from officer-involved shootings.
The event showed what could be a good step towards resolving issues through communication instead of confrontational protests in the streets.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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