Texas police chief and officer's "His Life Matters" message goes viral
When it comes to the Black Lives Matter movement, two Texas police officers don't like what they've been seeing.
That's why they decided to respond with their own message: "His Life Matters."
The Trinity Police Department shared a powerful photo of Chief Steven Jones and Officer Donald Givens, who are two different races, with "His Life Matters" written on the palm of their hands, each with an arrow pointed to the other.
"There's a lot of hate going on right now -- there's a lot of hate going on in our nation," Givens told CBS News. "We're tired of all the hate."
It doesn't matter what race you are, Givens continued, "all lives matter."
The photo was shared on Twitter by the department in May and has been retweeted more than 500 times. But it wasn't until early this week that the photo really started spreading.
The group American Conservatives of Color shared the photo of the officers, along with a caption that read "RIGHT ON, brothers!!" The post has been shared by more than 115,000 people.
Hundreds of people commented, mostly praising the cops for their symbol of unity.
"All lives matter! And we are ALL some kind of color!" one user commented.
"Love this," another said. "Brotherhood has no color."
Givens has been working alongside Jones in Trinity, Texas, a small town of about 3,000 people, for nearly six years. Every day, they talk about social issues and ways to improve the community.
He hopes their "great" relationship alone helps prove his point.
"When it all comes down to it, I know he has my back," he said. "He loves me for who I am and that's all that matters."
Other police departments hope to send a similar message.
On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Police Department shared a similar photo of two police officers with the same "His Life Matters" message.
The photo was shared by more than 4,300 people.
"This picture was simply meant for everyone and to show that we hold value to all life equally," the department explained. "We are out in the community everyday 24 hours a day. There just isn't always a camera for photo ops."
Givens didn't expect the photo to go viral or start a movement, but he's glad it did.
"This is what we should express -- we should be a unit as one," he said. "Now, let's move forward and go from here to make this nation better."