Rev. Willie Bodrick II appears at WCVB5, talks

Rev. Willie Bodrick II makes an appearance at WCBV5 and expresses opinions on the culture and law enforcement in the city. Image: Jonathan Velasquez|Unsplash

Rev. Willie Bodrick II made an appearance at WCVB5 to talk about law enforcement in the city, which has recently come under fire for the alleged misdoings of some police officers.

Bodrick’s Opinion on Police Enforcement

According to the WCBV, the reverend appeared at the program of Anthony Edwards and Karen Holmes Ward. Reverend Bodrick talked about policing, racial issues, and the changes that he said people are waiting to see in the city’s law enforcement.

Bodrick and the hosts talked about a police beating that went viral a few weeks ago.

The pastor said there seems to be a ‘ritual of perpetual violence’ in the community. He then asked about progress and what society can do to affect positive change.

The pastor said that the community has to acknowledge that there is a “toxic culture” concerning policing in Black and brown communities. The pastor said this is because of what he perceives as the criminalization of Black people.

He then talked about his issues with qualified immunity, saying that it is giving the police protection from acts that they should not do.

The talk also shifted to the positivity brought upon by police body cameras. The reverend and the hosts lauded what the cameras have done regarding accountability.

Story of Rev. Willie Bodrick II, His Connection to Boston

According to The Boston Foundation page, Rev. Willie Bodrick II is the current Senior pastor-elect of the Twelfth Baptist Church.

The pastor was born and raised in Atlanta, Ga., to a Christian family, as his father served as a pastor for more than three decades.

The pastor talked about growing up in the “birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.” He said that he already admired Black leadership at an early age, saying that he had several examples growing up. He considered as inspirations figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Maynard Jackson, and John Lewis, among others.

He added that growing up, he saw Black lawyers, educators, ministers, doctors, business leaders, and more.

He said that he was initially reluctant to follow his calling from God, opting to pursue a career in education and working at the SEED School of Washington, D.C. He then applied to Harvard Divinity School, where he became Dr. Charles Gilchrist Adams’ student.

During this time, the pastor would be connected to the Twelfth Baptist Church as it was where he took his finals for his homiletics class. The church invited him back to preach, and the pastor would develop his skills as a minister and practitioner.

Twelfth Baptist Church

The church’s website said it is a member of the American Baptist Churches USA that serves the city of Boston. It says that it is a church that strives to build people of “Purpose, Power, Praise, and Prayer.”

On the church page, it says that it started in 1840 on Joy Street at Beacon Hill.

The church says that over the years, it has been an important “forum” for champions of human rights such as Frederick Douglas and reverends Leonard A. Grimes and George Washington Williams, among others.