In a topic change driven by Sunday’s shooting of an unarmed Black man by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Gateway Church pastor Ben Porter Jr. came up with a new subject at the last minute for his weekly panel discussion about race Thursday.

The Rev. Ben Porter, pastor of Gateway Church, opens a discussion focused on "Blue on Black Crime" during a town hall Thursday at Gateway Church in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

In Gateway’s sanctuary in Cape Girardeau’s former Federal Building at 339 Broadway, Porter renamed the event as “Blue on Black Crime.”

Three Black men joined Porter on stage for an hourlong conversation.

Trent Ball, associate vice president for equity and access at Southeast Missouri State University, said he can’t get out of his mind the thought that Blake’s three minor children “saw their Dad’s blood splashed on them.”

Ball, who said his own father was a police officer for six years, said “the Black man is assumed to be the aggressor” in situations.

Trent Ball, assistant vice president for academic diversity and outreach at Southeast Missouri State University, speaks about police shooting victim Jacob Blake and the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a "Blue on Black Crime" town-hall discussion Thursday at Gateway Church in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

“This happens over and over and we don’t hold anybody responsible,” said Patrick Buck, a truck driver.

Xavier Payne, a student leader at Southeast, sported a T-shirt that read “Racism is Pandemic Too, and said he has watched the 9.4 second video of Blake being shot in the back “about 100 times.”

Payne urged attendees to look at the system as a whole, adding “humans make errors.”

Porter cited the example of a Baltimore police officer who said he understood he had a particular target to make while on patrol, with the pastor noting the officer met his quota of traffic stops and arrests primarily among the Black population.

Porter said he believed that if a person is found guilty of killing an unarmed Black man, he should receive a mandatory sentence of automatic life in prison.

Patrick Buck, local businessman and community advocate, speaks about police shooting victim Jacob Blake and the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a "Blue on Black Crime" town-hall discussion Thursday at Gateway Church in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Buck opined rioting and looting is not the way for the Black community to react to Blake’s shooting, instead urging an economic boycott.

“If you do not patronize stores and restaurants, if they’re not making any money, those business leaders will demand the removal of police officers who are ruining their livelihoods,” Buck said.

Ball said a persistent problem is when police officers do not live in the neighborhoods they patrol.

“Those officers are fearful of going into those communities, as a result,” he said, adding when he lived in a particular St. Louis neighborhood years ago, there was “zero crime” because the cops lived there, too.

Xavier Payne, Southeast Missouri State University graduate and Missouri College Advising Corps adviser, speaks about police shooting victim Jacob Blake and the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a "Blue on Black Crime" town-hall discussion Thursday at Gateway Church in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

The Southeast administrator said he thinks the growing numbers of interracial couples in the U.S. is a welcome trend, suggesting the trend holds out the long-term possibility of breaking down racist attitudes.

“There used to be 7% interracial couples, then it went to 17(%), and in the 2020 census, it may go up to 24%,” Ball said.

Payne suggested the media can be faulted for the way such shootings are covered.

“The media are corrupt,” Payne said. “They stir the pot.”