Concern 11
So What Have These Protests Achieved?
What Do We Want? Justice!
FOR GEORGE FLOYD
Four officers in George Floyd’s death have been fired and charged
Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on George Floyd’s neck, has had his charges raised from manslaughter to 2nd degree murder, while the other three have been charged with aiding in his death.
George Flloyd’s family have now appealed to the UN for justice.
FOR AHMAUD ARBERY
After two months of no charges, a judge has ruled there was probable cause to charge three white men on murder charges in the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
There have been moves in Georgia to bring a hate crime bill up for a vote. Georgia is one of four states without a bias (hate) crime law. Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, said: “If Georgia had a hate crime law, Ahmaud’s killers could face additional sentencing for murdering my son because of the color of his skin.”
FOR BREONNA TAYLOR
“Breonna’s Law” has been passed through the public safety committee in Louisville to regulate “no knock warrants” in narcotics cases.
The FBI’s Louisville office announced they were opening an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Breonna’s death, however officer involved as yet remain uncharged.
ONGOING CASES
In Indianapolis, the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Dresjon Reed have been identified.
In the case of Rayshard Brooks, who was fatally shot by police in Atlanta, DA Paul Howard said he is charging Officer Garrett Rolfe with 11 counts including felony murder and aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and violations to his oath of office.
Potential Nationwide Reform
JUSTICE IN POLICING ACT 2020: Democrats in congress introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, a police reform and accountability bill that contains measures to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing. According to a summary of the bill, the legislation seeks police reform through multiple avenues: police accountability, police transparency through data, police training and policies and justice for victims of lynching.
THE GEORGE FLOYD LAW ENFORCEMENT TRUST AND INTEGRITY ACT: Would implement national policing standards and accreditations, require agencies to share policing data with the Department of Justice, and make grants available for new programs that help departments recruit, hire or increase oversight. It also requires the Department of Justice to assemble a task force responsible for law enforcement misconduct cases.
ERIC GARNER EXCESSIVE FORCE PREVENTION ACT: Would make chokeholds or other oxygen-hindering maneuvers illegal under federal civil rights law. Introduced by Kristin Gillibrand in 2019, the bill is now gaining traction in Congress.
ENDING QUALIFIED IMMUNITY ACT: This proposal would remove the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity that protects law enforcement personnel from being held personally responsible for violating the rights of citizens, is currently up for debate in the Senate.
POLICE REFORM: The Movement to Defund the Police Gains 'Unprecedented' Support Across US
CALIFORNIA - California Governor Gavin Newsom called for new police crowd control procedures for the state, and the banning of the police use of carotid chokeholds, which starve the brain of oxygen. In LA, Mayor Eric Garcetti has said he would cut as much as $250 million from the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) budget, a reversal of his planned increase of $120 million. Garcetti announced the funds would be redirected to community initiatives. In San Diego, caroti (neck) restraint has been banned immediately and in San Francisco, a resolution to prevent the re-hiring of officers with a history of misconduct has been introduced.
COLORADO – Denver’s police department also banned the use of chokeholds without exception, and established new reporting requirements whenever a police officer holds a person at gunpoint.
VIRGINIA - Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is also proposing a crisis alert, named after Marcus David Peters who was killed in 2018 by a Richmond police officer. This alert would help the police department and the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority work together on calls for people experiencing a mental crisis.
WASHINGTON – The City of Seattle announced several changes to its policing protocols, including restrictions on badge coverings for officers, and the criminal justice training commission has proposed new rules that seek to change how police respond how police respond to and investigate officer-involved uses of deadly force. Seattle also withdrew a previous request to end federal oversight/consent decree of the police department.
MICHIGAN – Michigan unanimously passed mandatory police education and bias training for all officers in Senate Bill 945.
OHIO – Small changes, but Kansas City police will purchase body cameras for all officers. In Lorain County, a new, diversified ‘Use of Force’ Advisory Board will review police use of force incidents in the county, after local police listened to protesters.
TEXAS – Dallas police will now be required to intervene whenever a fellow officer is using excessive force in a new ‘duty to intervene’ policy (although accountability to this policy is still unclear). They’ve also introduced a ‘duty to warn before shooting’ police and placed a ban on chokeholds and are undertaking a review of all use-of-force policies. In Austin, lawmakers have unanimously backed new policies limiting the police department’s use of force. Texas lawmakers are also trying to push to reinstate police reforms stripped from the Sandra Bland Act introduced in 2017.
MINNESOTA – Minneapolis City Council has implemented sweeping changes; voting unanimously to impose a ‘duty to intervene’ policy for police officers, anytime they see unauthorized use of force. Additionally, they have banned chokeholds altogether. The City Council also have announced their intention to disband the police department, looking to new measures of community policing and protection. The Police Chief has also begun reforms, withdrawing from negotiations with police unions.
KENTUCKY - Louisville City Council unanimously passed ‘Breonna’s Law’, banning no-knock warrants. The Louisville Metropolitan Police Department announced it would require all sworn officers to wear body cameras. Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad announced he would be retiring at the end of June.
NEW YORK - In a groundbreaking move, the State Senate voted to repeal 50-A, a decades-old law that kept personnel records for law enforcement officers private. An aggressive police reform package has been passed awaiting approval from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
NEW JERSEY - New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has announced new police reform measures including an expansion of the state‘s use-of-force database and a proposed licensing program for law enforcement.
A Global Awakening
International protests have erupted around the world in solidarity against systemic racism, and forcing other countries to examine their own issues and work towards change.
Most Americans, across party lines, now support sweeping police reform, a recent poll has found.
Several statues and monuments celebrating confederate figures who fought for continued slavery, have been (or will be) taken down in Virginia, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Kentucky, Baltimore, Boston and the UK. This has prompted renewed calls in the Senate for all confederate symbols to be removed, including renaming military bases named after Confederate generals.
Minneapolis school board unanimously votes to break their contract with police, removing heavy police presence at middle and high schools. Other school districts and some Universities are following suit.
Big tech companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM are calling for greater oversight before partnering with police on facial recognition technology.
Ella Jones has created history, becoming Ferguson’s first female and first black mayor in the city’s history, nearly six years after protests solidified the Black Lives Matter movement.
Voting registration groups in the US are reporting growing voter registration in the last two weeks.
Nascar, a sport with a long history of racism, has publicly come out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and since banned public displays of the confederate flag at all Nascar events.
The NFL has come out with a statement and apology in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the right to protest at games, after several players made an impassioned video plea.
“The NFL has apologized for previously preventing players from taking a knee in protest (although have not publicly apologized to [Colin] Kaepernick) and will allow players to do so at NFL games.” (After Roger Goodell’s Apology, What’s Next In Movement?, NFL.com)
Media organizations, now forced to examine their own biased hierarchies and treatment of Black colleagues are undergoing major internal changes to correct leadership and salary inequities.
In Washington DC, ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’ is now the official name of the road leading to the White House.
The US Marines and US Navy have banned displays of the confederate battle flag.
Tolerance for check book activism from companies has hit its peak as the world calls for real change, and corporate America faces a reckoning on inequality. That change is also starting at home as people look to understand systemic racism and become better allies, we are seeing the world prepare to ‘do the work’ with books and resources written by Black authors and creatives are topping the best sellers list and getting sold out.