By Andy Dahn

NORMAL – Normal’s 2015 Citizen of the Year said he would like to see a more racially diverse community where everyone feels welcome.

Quincy Cummings was presented the award Thursday night at the Town of Normal’s Appreciation Reception at the newly expanded Community Cancer Center. Cummings would like to see more minorities working on local police forces, a search he said needs to start locally at places like Illinois State University and Lincoln College.

“Look at those criminal justice programs, see if there’s an interest and work very hard to show them that doing police work is an honorable job,” Cummings said. “It’s something that’s very needed for the community. We also need to show these minority candidates that they are needed to help change the current perception of police.”

Cummings is the current President of the Bloomington-Normal Branch of the NAACP, a member of Not in Our Town, a charter member of Minority and Police Partnership and chair of the McLean County Jail Committee. He said his work has goals that go far beyond winning awards.

“I want to see the police be perceived in a positive light and I want people to be attracted to Bloomington because they see themselves here,” said Cummings. “I think that’s very important. You have to see yourself where you live in order to want to stay. Bloomington is a wonderful community, but sometimes the picture gets a little blurry when you look at the family portrait. I want to see a family portrait of this community where everyone feels that they’re a part of it.”

In addition to his Citizen of the Year award, Cummings was the recipient of Normal’s Martin Luther King Jr. Award in 2013 and was given the Roy Wilkins Award by the NAACP in 2014.

Andy Dahn can be reached at [email protected].