‘This gesture is incredibly profound:’ Community members plant tree in honor of Inv. Mario Herrera

The Malone Center, Take Pause, Community Engagement Committee and Lincoln Police planted five trees throughout the city on Sunday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Since June, the Lincoln Police Department and the Malone Center have collaborated, including signing a Hold Cops Accountable agreement. On Sunday, LPD, the Malone Center, Community Engagement Committee and Take Pause all united in solidarity with one another.

The faces of six African-Americans killed by police were placed in the ground. To the left, the face of Investigator Mario Herrera, a member of LPD who was shot and killed in the line of duty.

“We are worried about all life here,” Malone community director Ishma Yusaf Valenti said. “We are concerned about the safety of everyone in our community. Adding that as a different memorial side by side, I think it’s a really great show of camaraderie between the whole community.”

LPD and the community planted a tree in honor of Herrera. They also planted trees to symbolize a growing relationship between one another.

“I think it means everything in the world to us that they remember Mario,” LPD management services officer Luke Bonkiewicz said. “This gesture is incredibly profound. We’re planting an oak tree, and Mario was an oak in our department. He was tough. He was somebody that was embedded in the community. He was loved by everybody and the idea of planting a tree is so appropriate.”

Valenti has worked closely with LPD. He helped create the HCA agreement. For Valenti and other members of the black community, their message is loud and clear.

“As you see today, we’re here to signify that message; we’re not anti-police, only anti-police brutality.”

Lincoln High junior Ayat Acif is involved in Take Pause, a program that works with teenage youth and LPD to create positive relationships with one another. The past few months have taught him a lesson.

“There’s some cops out there who are questionable, but not every single person is a bad person,” he said. Every single cop goes home, and they have a family as well.”

For Acif, today was an opportunity to recognize both sides and step in one another’s shoes.

“I understand the Black Lives Matter movement. I understand that black people haven’t been treated well in the past, and still here in the present, but I also support supporting cops. They’re still keeping us safe in the community as well.”