They waded into deep Waters.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters gave his unvarnished views on race, media, and the state of the River City in a viral video with YouTuber Peter Santenello that drew nearly 2 million views in a little more than week.
Known for his immersive treks into overlooked corners of the country and globe, Santenello’s channel boasts 3.7 million subscribers, making him one of the platform’s most influential content creators.
The collaboration with Waters was brokered by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s media consigliere, former News4Jax reporter and anchor Vic Micolucci.
Running longer than most feature-length films at 1 hour, 41 minutes, the format allowed Waters’ to outline several polarizing positions at length.
Many Northerners, Santenello told Waters, assume that the South has been unable to shed its past and remains a fundamentally racist place.
“The South’s not racist,” he said. “Racism exists. There are racist people. But the system as a whole is not a racist system. The South – to label the South as racist is crazy. I was elected in this city. I was elected by people who saw me and they thought I would do a good job. They gave me an opportunity. And it wasn’t just all black folks. Or Hispanics. It was a mix of people all over this community.”
He spoke at length about the challenges of being a high profile black Republican, telling Santenello that he’s routinely cast as a traitorous “Uncle Tom.”
“You’re not supposed to be a Republican and be black,” he said, relaying an anecdote that revealed clear tensions with some city officials..
“Listen to this,” he said. “They had a black history event — Black History Month event. The City of Jacksonville did. I’m only the second elected black sheriff in the history of this city. I didn’t get invited. What does that tell you? We love you if you toe the party line. If you do what you’re expected to.”
He repeatedly amplified his independence from local officials as an elected sheriff. “My goal is to please the community, not the city government,” he said.
The role of race in policing, Waters contended, is exaggerated for political profit.
With Santenello riding shotgun, Waters addressed racial profiling while driving a police cruiser down a Jacksonville freeway.
“I bet you can’t tell me or your audience can’t tell me what color that driver is,” he said while pointing at a car ahead of him. “But the world would have you believe we stop people based on what they look like. If they were committing a traffic violation and they were a black male, Hispanic male, white male — you don’t find out until you walk up to the car.”
Waters took Santenello into some of Jacksonville’s more crime-ridden areas, recalling particularly heinous crimes in detail — including the shooting death of Breon Allen in late January.
“You hear politicians all over the place talking about white supremacy being the most dangerous part of of what’s going on in America,” he said. “Where are they living? Are they not paying attention to what’s happening here? Do they not even care?”
Black communities — including many in Jacksonville — are in the throes of an advancing “genocide,” Waters said.
“I make enemies when I say stuff like we have to look inside of our communities and pay attention to what’s happening inside of our communities,” he said. “Everybody gets riled up about a police shooting, which happens statistically very few, very little at a time. But this doesn’t just happen every once in a while, these murders that take place in our inner cities across this country.”
Rather than being encouraged to excel, Waters argued, black kids are continually reminded of the forces arrayed against them.
“The most insulting thing to me is someone to tell me or tell a young person they cant accomplish something because of their skin color,” he said. “That’s wrong. You can do anything that you want to do in the United States of America. Which is why this is the greatest place on the planet. There’s no place better than here. And I would invite anyone who says that there is — go live there – go live in the place that you think is better. No, you won’t leave. you won’t leave. Because you recognize you’re just playing a game.”
Waters contended that newer immigrant populations are sometimes resistant to assimilation, a trend that foments disunity.
“I’ve lived all over the world,” he said. “It’s strange to me how you want to come to America, but not fully buy in. Because you keep everyone segmented. And when you keep everyone segmented, off and doing their different things, it’s much harder to get along.”
Waters also touched on his past frustrations with local media, arguing that news directors and editors appeared to revel in negative milestones.
“It’s always been a great place,” he said. “Just not a place many people know about. This is what used to frustrate me about local media. There was a celebration when we crossed 100 homicides in Jacksonville. It’s like they were celebrating. Why do you constantly want to destroy the reputation of such a great place?”
Micolucci said the department is motivated by the city’s checkered reputation.
“It’s an underdog city,” he said. “A lot of people love to hate on it. I think that’s the passion behind the hard work the men and women of the agency put in day in day out. We want to continue to see this city grow and thrive and improve.”
2 Responses
Some of your best work to date Citizen!
Excellent coverage. Thanks Sheriff Waters for bringing Jacksonville forward. We have lived in Jacksonville since 1986. Obviously there have been many changes moving the city toward steady growth.
My only comment about racism is continue to move forward bringing and pushing everyone forward!!