KIDS Center Heroes - Black History Month Spotlight: Sgt. Aaron Wells, Redmond PD
Aaron Wells has been a detective for nearly 14 years and works closely with KIDS Center. Much of Aaron’s free time is spent enjoying time with his family, cooking, playing golf, fishing, and attending church. Overall, Aaron considers himself to be an easy-going family man who loves Jesus.
When you think of Black History Month, what are some parts of African American history that are especially significant to you?
Oddly enough I think a lot about things like Jim Crow laws and how that impacted our country. Probably because it wasn’t until a college history class that I learned about them and was totally blown away. It was also a time my dad experienced as he grew up in the South and lived a reality of “separate but equal”; which was a complete fabrication. I mean what must it have been like to not even be able to drink from the same water fountain as someone else. I think about how far we’ve come from that and the freedoms I’ve experienced and how much the country has changed positively. I also think about how much change is happening now and how commercials, television and so many other things are bringing minorities into mainstream society.
I also think about amazing black people like WEB Dubois, Martin Luther King Jr., Louis Armstrong, Condoleeza Rice, Dr. Ben Carson and so many others who have been and are wildly impactful to our communities and how they weren’t trying to be noticed they were just being themselves and impacting those around them.
What would you like children in Central Oregon to know about Black History Month?
Hard question but I guess I would like them to see “Black history” as part of their history. For so long our country has taught us all about where we came from. Oddly enough we have decided to separate “black history” into its own particular category. I understand why but I also would like to think if we all learn about history everyday in school then it should include everyone’s history equally. It seems to me if we looked at it that way and experienced it that way we would move farther away from singling out black culture or any culture for that matter. Which would hopefully move us closer to the ideal of a country that is not separated by color or anything else but sees all history as pertaining to all of us as it affects us all every day and shapes us moving forward.
What are some of your continued hopes for diversity in Central Oregon?
I actually don’t think about this much so here goes. I think it would be cool for my children to not feel different in some situations because of their skin color. So I guess I hope our area would continue to diversify culturally and it would be commonplace for people of all races to live here.
