Pioneering black policeman: ‘They could have fired us’

For African-American policemen in the 1960s in St. Petersburg, Florida, different rules applied. They could not work behind the front desk. They could patrol only the black areas of town. They could not arrest white people, and they could not move up the ranks. In 1965 a dozen officers dubbed the Courageous 12 sued the city for discrimination and won. In this excerpt from America Tonight, Leon Jackson — one of two surviving members of the group — tells Sarah Hoye that while police departments may have become more diverse, he thinks they have lost touch with the people they serve.