Crime

OP-ED: Police Reform Now: The State of Emergency in our Precincts

Published

10 years ago

May 1, 2015

by Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League

“There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” – Charles de Montesquieu, “The Spirit of the Laws,” 1748

A tragic deja vu is playing out in communities all across America, particularly in the growingly skeptical streets of Black and Brown neighborhoods.

Once again, our nation is forced to grapple with fresh accounts of police misconduct in its deadliest incarnation. Once again, the victims are unarmed Black men and the perpetrators are the very public servants charged with keeping them—in fact, all of us—safe; it seems only the states and the circumstances change.

On April 4, Walter Scott was driving a Mercedes-Benz with a busted tail light through North Charleston, South Carolina. Officer Micheal Slager pulled Scott over. Said to be in fear of being arrested, the 50-year-old ran away from the car. A cellphone video shows Officer Slager chasing Scott and shooting at him with his stun gun, when that failed to stop him, he used his gun to fire eight shots at Scott’s back, killing him on the scene.

Weeks later, in a West Baltimore neighborhood, witnesses used cellphone video to capture parts of Freddie Gray’s arrest. Police say the 25-year-old was arrested after making eye contact with the police and then running away. Gray can be heard screaming in pain as he’s being dragged into a police van. While the mystery of what happened in the van has yet to be solved, we do know that his encounter with the police left him with serious spinal cord injuries. He died of those injuries a week later.

This unjust treatment of our nation’s Black and Brown citizens by law enforcement officials sworn to dispense justice should stir, if not shock, our collective conscience. These heavy-handed, sometimes fatal, police tactics should inspire outcry from all corners of our country—and the world. But we can’t leave our frustrations—and our fight—at the doorstep of outrage. Our challenge is to make the Scotts and Grays of this nation the rarest of exceptions, not the fatal rule. Anger has its place, but it is in action—strategic, comprehensive action—that we will begin to attack the cancer of police misconduct.

In light of the most recent deaths, and our nation’s desperate need for solutions during this state of emergency that calls for action, and an action plan, I want to reintroduce the National Urban League’s 10-Point Justice Plan for police reform and accountability, calling for:

Widespread Use of Body Cameras and Dashboard Cameras
Broken Windows Reform and Implementation of 21st Century Community Policing Model
Review and Revision of Police Use of Deadly Force Policies
Comprehensive Retraining of All Police Officers
Comprehensive Review and Strengthening of Police Hiring Standards
Appointment of Special Prosecutors to Investigate Police Misconduct
Mandatory, Uniform FBI Reporting and Audit of Lethal Force Incidents Involving All Law Enforcement
Creation and Audit of National Database of Citizen Complaints against Police
Revision of National Police Accreditation System for Mandatory Use by Law Enforcement To Be Eligible for Federal Funds
National Comprehensive Anti-Racial Profiling Law

The rage that has spilled out onto so many of our streets since the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last year makes it clear that the issue of police-involved killings is one that will not be easily swept under a rug of un-awareness and indifference. When we, as a nation, address the problem of police officers using deadly force, particularly against people in communities of color, we know that we are saving lives—perhaps our own—and shaping a more just system of justice for all. When officers are held accountable for using excessive force—as they have thankfully been held in the cases of Scott and Gray—we are encouraged and know that change is possible, but our work does not end there.

To deliver on the promise of fair treatment by law enforcement for every American, we: citizens, community stakeholders, policy-makers and politicians, must all commit to play our part for the long haul to right the historic wrong of the unequal treatment of people of color by police under the law.

Oakland Post

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Related Topics:Baltimore Freddie Gray Marc H. Morial Michael Brown National Urban League OP-ED Opinion police accountability police reform Walter Scott

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

6 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.