St. Paul mayor says he grew up praying for the safety of police officers

St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Melvin Carter recalled the nearly 30 years his father served his city as a police officer, but added that made no difference in the way police officers treated him as a teenager and young adult.

What he's saying: "I grew up praying for the safety of our officers. ... I got a chance to see him use that badge and that uniform as an amazing, incredible force for good. I saw it as a cape, a superhero cape, and of course, I turned 16 and started driving," he told Axios' Margaret Talev during a virtual event on Friday.

The big picture: Mayors across the country have been vocally condemning the police killing of George Floyd and outlining concrete steps to address the systemic racism that still plagues U.S. communities.

More from Carter:

• "We don’t have time for me to share with you the number of experiences I have personally had with law enforcement growing up."
• "I grew up hearing from my father the stories of his service. I grew up hearing from him that an officer’s duty is to help someone who’s hurting, is there’s never a pause or never a break from that duty."
• "If we think the fact that my father’s a police officer or the fact that I’m a city council member would change the way I'm treated by the police department, well then isn’t that the problem in itself?"

Watch the virtual event