Jill Scott is about to headline A+E Network’s Race in America concert next month, and recently, she opened up to The Huffington Post about the now-viral video of a South Carolina teenage girl being assaulted by a school officer at Spring Valley High School.
“I was [once] a teacher and I remember their mouths — I know the students have a whole day to sit down and think of something negative to say, but you’re supposed to be the adult,” Scott said. “You’re supposed to be able to take a breath and walk away, and still do your job. This is violence. He swung that child around like he hated her. And that’s too much.”
Scott also said that she thinks that the recent incident captured on video is not the first of it’s kind.
“The way that the students and the teacher were so lackadaisical about the whole thing. Nobody screamed, nobody stood up,” she said. “It looks like something that’s been going on in that school for a long time.”
Scott offers a possible solution, saying that schools need to be more selective in their recruitment.
“I think there has to be a test. Just like you have to learn how to hold and to use your weapon — I think police officers need to learn how to use their minds and hearts,” she said. “These are people, and I think their fear may overwhelm them and whatever residual feelings they have from childhood or whatever.”
She added, “I think there needs to be physiological examinations before you can become a police officer, examinations about your past and lie detector tests. It’s easy for any of us to end up in somebody’s prison, and I’d like it to be a lot harder for police officers to become police officers.”