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To: Carol Adams
Carol Adams for Richmond Police Chief
The mayor assigns the police chief and it’s his decision alone. When Stoney appointed Blackwell and now Gerard Smith from NC he has said both times he’s picked the right “man” for the job.
Smith doesn’t know the Richmond community.
Maybe a man isn’t equipped for this job. Richmond has never had a female chief Maybe the community should have some weigh. I’d like to give my 2 cents.
Carol Adams has been a Richmond police officer for over 20 years. Weighing at 100 pounds this African American grandmother has never in her career injured a person, used lethal force and you’d be very hard to find a single person who’s met her with a bad word to say about her.
But that’s not why she’s the right WOMAN.
Carol knows hardship, pain, police negligence/misconduct and has paid dearly for it. Growing up in central Virginia, carols childhood wasn’t good. Her father was incredibly abusive, he’d beat her mother without mercy. Carol took many of these blows as a child trying to protect her mother. Back then DV wasn’t handled like it is today, if you can imagine it was much worse. Her and her siblings would call the police on their father, who’d do nothing. At the age of 17, her father (with her and her siblings in the home), fatally shot her mother numerous times. To this day Carol can still hear the pop, pop, pop of his gun, when she was a child her in her room. She knew he’d killed her without leaving her bedroom, he’d threatened to do it most of her life and he finally came through with that promise. Back then there was no DV that could help their family. The police made unconscionable comments about her mothers body. Carol didn’t dislike the police, she hated them. With time and help from her faith she realized, “if not me then who; if not now then when”? Carol joined the police department to make a difference. So her story wouldn’t be echoed again.
Carol then created the Carol Adams Foundation dealing directly with domestic violence. She’s a well known person in communities that are often over looked, and she’s known not for being a cop but for being a part of the community. Carol was one of the first Domestic Violence nonprofits to provide equal services to men, LGBTQ community and to treat the entire family for domestic violence. In her words, we can’t just help the victim we must help the children and everyone who’s been impacted by DV.
Throughout the covid crisis Carol has worked 12 hour overnight shifts to immediately go to Gilpin court to give out masks, food and other needed supplies to the community. If she’s not there then she’s helping victims and families of domestic violence, working in her community center that provides FREE daycare and educational programs to kids and adults, with her grandbabies and somewhere in between, finds time to sleep.
To relive your trauma, anger everyday to help others take a strong person. It takes a selfless person.
Carol is the epitome of making lemonade out of lemons. If Carol has personally taught me anything, that I will keep in my heart until I die it’s that kindness, compassion and empathy are the strongest things a person can have and everything I do I try to do with kindness (I’m not perfect but I’m trying). Candidly I don’t know if I lived through what Carol did I could be so kind. I can tell you first hand Carol has gone without to help vulnerable people. I’ve seen her do this with my own eyes. She’d literally take every stitch of clothing and dollar she had to help someone in need. But don’t take my word for it, ask the 100s of children, the women who’ve been beaten, ignored and left for dead or the folks in the community.
Carols hated her father. While in prison for murdering her beautiful petite mother he was released early after developing terminal cancer, and he had nowhere to go. So Carol took him in and cared for him until he died. Because she needed to do the right thing, swallow that pain, anger and loss and be the better person. That alone is a level of love I don’t think I or most people I know would have the capacity for. That’s a saintly act right there.
Smith doesn’t know the Richmond community.
Maybe a man isn’t equipped for this job. Richmond has never had a female chief Maybe the community should have some weigh. I’d like to give my 2 cents.
Carol Adams has been a Richmond police officer for over 20 years. Weighing at 100 pounds this African American grandmother has never in her career injured a person, used lethal force and you’d be very hard to find a single person who’s met her with a bad word to say about her.
But that’s not why she’s the right WOMAN.
Carol knows hardship, pain, police negligence/misconduct and has paid dearly for it. Growing up in central Virginia, carols childhood wasn’t good. Her father was incredibly abusive, he’d beat her mother without mercy. Carol took many of these blows as a child trying to protect her mother. Back then DV wasn’t handled like it is today, if you can imagine it was much worse. Her and her siblings would call the police on their father, who’d do nothing. At the age of 17, her father (with her and her siblings in the home), fatally shot her mother numerous times. To this day Carol can still hear the pop, pop, pop of his gun, when she was a child her in her room. She knew he’d killed her without leaving her bedroom, he’d threatened to do it most of her life and he finally came through with that promise. Back then there was no DV that could help their family. The police made unconscionable comments about her mothers body. Carol didn’t dislike the police, she hated them. With time and help from her faith she realized, “if not me then who; if not now then when”? Carol joined the police department to make a difference. So her story wouldn’t be echoed again.
Carol then created the Carol Adams Foundation dealing directly with domestic violence. She’s a well known person in communities that are often over looked, and she’s known not for being a cop but for being a part of the community. Carol was one of the first Domestic Violence nonprofits to provide equal services to men, LGBTQ community and to treat the entire family for domestic violence. In her words, we can’t just help the victim we must help the children and everyone who’s been impacted by DV.
Throughout the covid crisis Carol has worked 12 hour overnight shifts to immediately go to Gilpin court to give out masks, food and other needed supplies to the community. If she’s not there then she’s helping victims and families of domestic violence, working in her community center that provides FREE daycare and educational programs to kids and adults, with her grandbabies and somewhere in between, finds time to sleep.
To relive your trauma, anger everyday to help others take a strong person. It takes a selfless person.
Carol is the epitome of making lemonade out of lemons. If Carol has personally taught me anything, that I will keep in my heart until I die it’s that kindness, compassion and empathy are the strongest things a person can have and everything I do I try to do with kindness (I’m not perfect but I’m trying). Candidly I don’t know if I lived through what Carol did I could be so kind. I can tell you first hand Carol has gone without to help vulnerable people. I’ve seen her do this with my own eyes. She’d literally take every stitch of clothing and dollar she had to help someone in need. But don’t take my word for it, ask the 100s of children, the women who’ve been beaten, ignored and left for dead or the folks in the community.
Carols hated her father. While in prison for murdering her beautiful petite mother he was released early after developing terminal cancer, and he had nowhere to go. So Carol took him in and cared for him until he died. Because she needed to do the right thing, swallow that pain, anger and loss and be the better person. That alone is a level of love I don’t think I or most people I know would have the capacity for. That’s a saintly act right there.
Why is this important?
If we want reform we need to have police that are joining for the right reasons. A chief who’s not only a black woman herself but mother to a black son and grandchildren who’s spent most of her life in Richmond in the community making a difference is the leadership we need, not just in Richmond but in every goddamn community. Can you imagine what a police force full of Carols would be like? I can. George Floyd would be alive. Tamir Rice would be 18 right now. The chief of police should be a mother who’s children have grown up in a system that is racist and cruel. Someone who wants, “police need to change their mindset from warrior to guardian; it’s not us (police) Verses them (the people), we as police are part of the community, we are one. “
Richmond, tell Mayor Stoney we don’t need another macho man. We need a WOMAN who truly cares about the community as she’s part of it. We need a chief with a career like Carols.
If we can’t truly abolish police then let’s change what sort of people become police. There should be no greater honor then serving your community, we’ve had enough of police ENFORCING their power, we need to flip that to truly serving and working for the people. We need kindness. We need selflessness. We need love.
Tell Stoney Richmond should have a say in who is in charge of the folks who SERVE the community. And in my opinion it’s time for a woman to do the job men can’t.
Richmond, tell Mayor Stoney we don’t need another macho man. We need a WOMAN who truly cares about the community as she’s part of it. We need a chief with a career like Carols.
If we can’t truly abolish police then let’s change what sort of people become police. There should be no greater honor then serving your community, we’ve had enough of police ENFORCING their power, we need to flip that to truly serving and working for the people. We need kindness. We need selflessness. We need love.
Tell Stoney Richmond should have a say in who is in charge of the folks who SERVE the community. And in my opinion it’s time for a woman to do the job men can’t.