Do you support Black Lives Matter? How about your local police? Two young men from Lebanon believe it doesn’t have to be a choice.
Longtime friends Darius Hubbard and Joshua Spaulding teamed up to develop a rubber bracelet that embraces both causes.
The black bracelet, which Hubbard is selling for $4, features “Black Lives Matter” in white writing on one side and “Back the Blue” in blue writing on the other.
Earlier this month, Spaulding, 25, a self-employed personal trainer and motivational speaker, was leaving a park with his 4-year-old daughter, Layla.
As they were walking home in the late afternoon, he saw a police officer help two young women whose car fender was loose after they were rear-ended. The officer took the bumper off and placed it in the vehicle so they could drive away.
Spaulding took a video, then concluded it by speaking into the camera, and to his daughter, “Sometimes you can save the day just by making sure everything is OK.” He told Hubbard about the experience, and they talked of the frustration of being pulled in two directions.
Hubbard, 26, a security officer with WellSpan Health, said his goal is to join the police department. After creating the design, he ordered nearly 100 of the bracelets to be made.
The prevailing narrative is that Black Lives Matter and police are polar opposites. But, Hubbard said, “I want to be (supporters of) both.” The other day, someone saw him wearing the bracelet and told him it’s impossible not to pick a side. “Why does it have to be that way?” Hubbard asked. It shouldn’t, Spaulding said, and that’s why wearing the bracelet is important.
Hubbard has sold more than a dozen bracelets so far. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to the newly formed Lebanon chapter of the NAACP, he said, and the rest will help him pay his way through the police academy.
Read More: 130 Lebanon residents form first local NAACP chapter, set six goals
Bracelets can be ordered by going to Spaulding and Hubbard’s Facebook pages.
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