A University of Houston grad student active in the local Black Lives Matter movement is suddenly all for police patrols in his neighborhood — after he was robbed at gunpoint outside his apartment. Jerry Ford Jr., described as one the leaders of the BLM movement on campus, tells KTRK that he spotted the young man loitering outside his apartment one evening last week but thought little of it. But when he went to unlock the door, the man pulled a gun and stole Ford’s wallet and cell phone.
Ford lives at an apartment complex just a few blocks from the UH campus in an area that has seen a spate of robberies and thefts in recent weeks, including the burglary of dozens of vehicles. Because the housing is off-campus, it is not patrolled by University of Houston police officers. Ford says that needs to change.
“I hope they would take a bigger stance and put more security over here because you have a lot of people walking back and forth to class,” he told the station.
Ford, who is running for Texas State Representative, is one of the leaders of the Houston chapter of Black Lives Matter. The group has, among other things, supported the divestment of police forces around the country and diversion of the funding to projects in support of the black community.
