Wednesday, June 03, 2020
Opinion
George Floyd’s Death Is a Failure of Generations of Leadership
Policymakers in the 1960s had the answers — give political and economic power to the people — but walked away.
By Elizabeth Hinton
Dr. Hinton is the author of “From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America.”
June 2, 2020
Police taking a man into custody in Detroit in 1967.Credit...Associated Press
The circumstances that led to the police killings of George Floyd — and thousands of other citizens over the years — could have been avoided if our elected officials in the 1960s had responded to protesters’ demands for socioeconomic inclusion. Instead, policymakers blamed black people for the instability, ignoring the buildup of centuries of racial oppression. They pursued a misguided policy path that has failed to keep communities of color safe for more than 50 years.
The police have long operated as guardians in white and middle-class communities, protecting property from outsiders. But in segregated urban neighborhoods, officials have deployed militarized police forces and expanded the prison system instead of working to address the root causes of the uprisings: mass unemployment, failing public schools, dilapidated housing and the deterioration of basic public goods like clean water.
We can’t let history repeat itself. While flames engulf at least 140 cities across the country, we must create a more egalitarian society out of the ashes by transforming policing. The blueprint was laid out in the 1960s — empowering low-income citizens to change their communities in their own vision, and investing in those alternatives at scale. Today we need the courage to act.
President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized the role police brutality and socioeconomic inequality played in urban uprisings when he convened the Kerner Commission in 1967. Its report warned that if American political and economic institutions failed to commit resources “sufficient to make a dramatic, visible impact on life in the urban ghetto,” the nation would become increasingly divided along racial lines and plagued by inequality — a “spiral” of segregation, violence and police force. Unfortunately, Johnson and other liberal policymakers distanced themselves from the Kerner report, out of discomfort that the document implicated white racism in fomenting domestic turmoil.
Johnson’s racism may have compromised the promise of the Great Society, but his domestic policies leave us with an important policy precedent, a blueprint for getting out of our current crisis. To begin to dismantle the socioeconomic conditions that led to Mr. Floyd’s premature death, we can look to the principles of community representation and grass-roots empowerment that steered the early development of Johnson’s domestic program.
The inaugural legislation of the war on poverty, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, enshrined a commitment to community involvement in the idea of “maximum feasible participation.” Inspired by Saul Alinsky’s method for organizing, this principle empowered ordinary citizens to develop their own solutions to cure and prevent the system of racial inequality, with support from the federal government.
Officials from the Office of Economic Opportunity interpreted “maximum feasible participation” to mean the law should help “the poor in developing autonomous and self-managed organizations which are competent to exert political influence on behalf of their own self-interest.” Essentially, the Johnson administration and Congress charged the O.E.O. with systematically including poor people in the administration of urban social welfare programs. It was the first and only time in the history of the United States that grass-roots organizations received direct federal funding to transform unequal conditions on their own terms.
During the very brief moment when “maximum feasible participation” was given a chance to steer the direction of the war on poverty, activists, organizers and residents of segregated low-income communities throughout the country seized on the idea to realize radical, even revolutionary approaches to restructuring American society, exercising claims to self-determination and autonomy that mainstream civil rights leaders championed in the mid-1960s.
In Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the O.E.O. supported residents in protesting the New York City’s police department, department of welfare and public school administrators with the Mobilization for Youth Program. In Chicago, federal authorities granted the community-based Woodlawn Organization $1 million to work with young people who had been arrested. And the Community Development Corporation of Syracuse used federal funding to support neighborhood organizations in rent strikes and demonstrations at city hall, so parents could have enough disposable income to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. Continued direct action eventually led to the establishment of public recreational centers in the city, providing young people with space to play.
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People Can’t Stop Watching Videos of Police and Protesters. That’s the Idea.
The tragedy of the war on poverty is that the promise of grass-roots empowerment and representation was not sustained on a wider level, or for entire communities, but only for individuals. While remnants of critical reforms are still with us, like the Head Start program, on the whole policymakers at all levels believed “maximum feasible participation” worked against their self-interest. By 1965, as many promising grass-roots initiatives began to receive the initial O.E.O. grants, they were required to design programs with public officials and municipal authorities in top-level positions. Soon after, policymakers defunded and dissolved anti-poverty programs.
Following Johnson’s escalation of the “war on crime” during the second half of the 1960s and amid the “long hot summers” that marred his presidency, the national government began to invest in police forces and entrust officers to assume a more prominent role in urban life and the administration of social services in low-income neighborhoods. The United States would look entirely different today had policymakers embraced “maximum feasible participation” with the same level of resources and the same length of commitment as they devoted to the wars on crime and drugs.
As well as divesting from grass-roots initiatives while shoring up law enforcement, policymakers and officials consistently dismissed the ideas for social change that emerged among people of color themselves — resistance largely rooted in their own racism. “There has never in history been an adequate black nation,” President Richard Nixon told his chief of staff, Harry Haldeman, “and they are the only race of which this is true.”
This thinking prompted Nixon to defuse the O.E.O. and join its programs with the Justice Department, relegating community involvement in federal social programs to the crime control arena and bolstering omnipresent police patrol, surveillance and law enforcement technologies in black and brown neighborhoods. During this period, only about 2 percent of the grants the Justice Department dispersed to fight the war on crime went to community-based measures like tenant patrols and block watches.
Although public officials rarely assert their racism in such blatant terms as Nixon did, their consistent resistance to supporting autonomous community organizations reflects a longstanding unwillingness to disrupt the racial hierarchies that have defined the United States since its founding.
For instance, President Jimmy Carter emphasized the need for grass-roots participation in a program he established to revitalize public housing projects in the late 1970s. In practice, however, citizen groups like the League to Improve the Community in Chicago’s Robert Taylor homes were denied funding — even though activists called for the very same strategies as federal officials, but sought to carry them out without oversight from law enforcement and housing authorities.
The rhetoric of community involvement evaporated from the domestic policy arena when Ronald Reagan took office. As the wars on drugs and gangs unfolded in the 1980s and 90s, and federal policymakers continued to shore up policing and incarceration over social welfare provisions, the police became even more central to the provision of social services in isolated communities.
In the aftermath of the unrest that roiled Los Angeles in 1992 after an all-white jury acquitted four police officers on charges of assault and excessive force for beating Rodney King, the Clinton administration and Congress created “empowerment zones” to spur economic activity. But rather than empowering impoverished residents themselves, this grant program turned into tax breaks for businesses and is widely considered a failure.
As we create a new future of policing, we should not fall back on the unsuccessful, top-down approaches of the past. Demonstrators today are calling for the restructuring of vital resources that will be required to build a just society, summarized in their demand: “Fund Community, Not Police.” The Minneapolis group Reclaim the Block quickly set up a campaign in the wake of Mr. Floyd’s killing that envisions the abolition of police forces by defunding them altogether. The burning of the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, the fires set to the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Ore., and the widespread smashing and destruction of police cruisers across the United States are material expressions of this sentiment.
Although the University of Minnesota ended its contract with the police and the Minneapolis Public School Board seems poised to do so, residents in over-policed and underprotected communities of color must have a more central role in fostering public safety, as well as welfare, education, public housing and other social programs that directly shape their everyday lives.
Ceding political and economic power to the people doesn’t require us to reinvent the wheel. The policy precedent of “maximum feasible participation” provides an inspiring starting point.
We can fund local victims’ rights groups and vibrant autonomous grass-roots programs at or above the same level as anti-gang task forces and community policing initiatives. We can establish powerful civilian review boards to hold troublesome officers accountable and entrust residents themselves to keep their own communities safe, rather than outside forces that often resemble occupying armies. We can commit to job creation programs for at-risk groups outside of the service economy. We can come to terms with the growing movement to abolish the police and the nation’s horrific prison system.
These are the kinds of transformative approaches that will allow us to attack the entrenched systemic problems and assaults on civil liberties that have enabled racial inequality to persist in America. The challenge must be met immediately. Or else we risk becoming even more fractured, with the fires in our streets continuing to burn.
Elizabeth Hinton (@elizabhinton) is an incoming professor of history, law and African-American studies at Yale and the author of “From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America.”
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Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton respond to George Floyd's death
President TYRANT Donald Trump delivers remarks in the Rose Garden at the White House on Monday on the death of George Floyd in police custody.
June 3 (UPI) -- In the wake of nationwide protests over the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, President Donald Trump, as well as former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have spoken out.
Here are their words:
President Donald Trump
Trump made these remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House on Tuesday, as quoted by a White House transcript:
"My fellow Americans,
My first and highest duty as president is to defend our great country and the American people. I swore an oath to uphold the laws of our nation, and that is exactly what I will do.
All Americans were rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd. My administration is fully committed that, for George and his family, justice will be served. He will not have died in vain. But we cannot allow the righteous cries and peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob. The biggest victims of the rioting are peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities, and as their president, I will fight to keep them safe. I will fight to protect you. I am your president of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters.
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But in recent days, our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, Antifa, and others. A number of state and local governments have failed to take necessary action to safeguard their residents. Innocent people have been savagely beaten, like the young man in Dallas, Texas, who was left dying on the street, or the woman in upstate New York viciously attacked by dangerous thugs.
America needs creation, not destruction; cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy; healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos. This is our mission, and we will succeed. One hundred percent, we will succeed. Our country always wins.
Therefore, the following measures are going into effect immediately:
First, we are ending the riots and lawlessness that has spread throughout our country. We will end it now. Today, I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets. Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled.
By UPI Staff
June 3 (UPI) -- In the wake of nationwide protests over the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police, President Donald Trump, as well as former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have spoken out.
Here are their words:
President Donald Trump
Trump made these remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House on Tuesday, as quoted by a White House transcript:
"My fellow Americans,
My first and highest duty as president is to defend our great country and the American people. I swore an oath to uphold the laws of our nation, and that is exactly what I will do.
All Americans were rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd. My administration is fully committed that, for George and his family, justice will be served. He will not have died in vain. But we cannot allow the righteous cries and peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob. The biggest victims of the rioting are peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities, and as their president, I will fight to keep them safe. I will fight to protect you. I am your president of law and order, and an ally of all peaceful protesters.
RELATED Hundreds arrested in NYC, D.C.; Trump calls for 'law and order'
But in recent days, our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, Antifa, and others. A number of state and local governments have failed to take necessary action to safeguard their residents. Innocent people have been savagely beaten, like the young man in Dallas, Texas, who was left dying on the street, or the woman in upstate New York viciously attacked by dangerous thugs.
Small-business owners have seen their dreams utterly destroyed. New York's finest have been hit in the face with bricks. Brave nurses, who have battled the virus, are afraid to leave their homes. A police precinct station has been overrun. Here in the nation's capital, the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial have been vandalized. One of our most historic churches was set ablaze. A federal officer in California, an African-American enforcement hero, was shot and killed.
These are not acts of peaceful protest. These are acts of domestic terror. The destruction of innocent life and the spilling of innocent blood is an offense to humanity and a crime against God.
These are not acts of peaceful protest. These are acts of domestic terror. The destruction of innocent life and the spilling of innocent blood is an offense to humanity and a crime against God.
America needs creation, not destruction; cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy; healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos. This is our mission, and we will succeed. One hundred percent, we will succeed. Our country always wins.
That is why I am taking immediate presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America. I am mobilizing all available federal resources -- civilian and military -- to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights. THIS IS THE ONLY AMENDMENT HE KNOWS
Therefore, the following measures are going into effect immediately:
First, we are ending the riots and lawlessness that has spread throughout our country. We will end it now. Today, I have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets. Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled.
If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.
I am also taking swift and decisive action to protect our great capital, Washington, D.C. What happened in this city last night was a total disgrace. As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property.
We are putting everybody on warning: Our 7 o'clock curfew will be strictly enforced. Those who threaten innocent life and property will be arrested, detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I want the organizers of this terror to be on notice that you will face severe criminal penalties and lengthy sentences in jail. This includes Antifa and others who are leading instigators of this violence.
One law and order -- and that is what it is: one law. We have one beautiful law. And once that is restored and fully restored, we will help you, we will help your business, and we will help your family.
America is founded upon the rule of law. It is the foundation of our prosperity, our freedom, and our very way of life. But where there is no law, there is no opportunity. Where there is no justice, there is no liberty. Where there is no safety, there is no future.
We must never give in to anger or hatred. If malice or violence reigns, then none of us is free.
I take these actions today with firm resolve and with a true and passionate love for our country. By far, our greatest days lie ahead.
Thank you very much."
Former President Barack Obama
Obama released this statement on Medium and via Twitter on Monday:
"As millions of people across the country take to the streets and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing problem of unequal justice, I've heard many ask how we can sustain momentum to bring about real change.
Ultimately, it's going to be up to a new generation of activists to shape strategies that best fit the times. But I believe there are some basic lessons to draw from past efforts that are worth remembering.
First, the waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States. The overwhelming majority of participants have been peaceful, courageous, responsible and inspiring. They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation -- something that police in cities like Camden [N.J.] and Flint [Mich.] have commendably understood.
On the other hand, the small minority of folks who've resorted to violence in various forms, whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism, are putting innocent people at risk, compounding the destruction of neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment and detracting from the larger cause. I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed. If history is any guide, that store may take years to come back. So let's not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it. If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves.
I am also taking swift and decisive action to protect our great capital, Washington, D.C. What happened in this city last night was a total disgrace. As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property.
We are putting everybody on warning: Our 7 o'clock curfew will be strictly enforced. Those who threaten innocent life and property will be arrested, detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I want the organizers of this terror to be on notice that you will face severe criminal penalties and lengthy sentences in jail. This includes Antifa and others who are leading instigators of this violence.
One law and order -- and that is what it is: one law. We have one beautiful law. And once that is restored and fully restored, we will help you, we will help your business, and we will help your family.
America is founded upon the rule of law. It is the foundation of our prosperity, our freedom, and our very way of life. But where there is no law, there is no opportunity. Where there is no justice, there is no liberty. Where there is no safety, there is no future.
We must never give in to anger or hatred. If malice or violence reigns, then none of us is free.
I take these actions today with firm resolve and with a true and passionate love for our country. By far, our greatest days lie ahead.
Thank you very much."
Former President Barack Obama
Obama released this statement on Medium and via Twitter on Monday:
"As millions of people across the country take to the streets and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing problem of unequal justice, I've heard many ask how we can sustain momentum to bring about real change.
Ultimately, it's going to be up to a new generation of activists to shape strategies that best fit the times. But I believe there are some basic lessons to draw from past efforts that are worth remembering.
First, the waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States. The overwhelming majority of participants have been peaceful, courageous, responsible and inspiring. They deserve our respect and support, not condemnation -- something that police in cities like Camden [N.J.] and Flint [Mich.] have commendably understood.
On the other hand, the small minority of folks who've resorted to violence in various forms, whether out of genuine anger or mere opportunism, are putting innocent people at risk, compounding the destruction of neighborhoods that are often already short on services and investment and detracting from the larger cause. I saw an elderly black woman being interviewed today in tears because the only grocery store in her neighborhood had been trashed. If history is any guide, that store may take years to come back. So let's not excuse violence, or rationalize it, or participate in it. If we want our criminal justice system, and American society at large, to operate on a higher ethical code, then we have to model that code ourselves.
Second, I've heard some suggest that the recurrent problem of racial bias in our criminal justice system proves that only protests and direct action can bring about change, and that voting and participation in electoral politics is a waste of time. I couldn't disagree more. The point of protest is to raise public awareness, to put a spotlight on injustice and to make the powers that be uncomfortable; in fact, throughout American history, it's often only been in response to protests and civil disobedience that the political system has even paid attention to marginalized communities. But eventually, aspirations have to be translated into specific laws and institutional practices -- and in a democracy, that only happens when we elect government officials who are responsive to our demands.
Moreover, it's important for us to understand which levels of government have the biggest impact on our criminal justice system and police practices. When we think about politics, a lot of us focus only on the presidency and the federal government. And yes, we should be fighting to make sure that we have a president, a Congress, a U.S. Justice Department and a federal judiciary that actually recognize the ongoing, corrosive role that racism plays in our society and want to do something about it. But the elected officials who matter most in reforming police departments and the criminal justice system work at the state and local levels.
It's mayors and county executives that appoint most police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police unions. It's district attorneys and state's attorneys that decide whether or not to investigate and ultimately charge those involved in police misconduct. Those are all elected positions. In some places, police review boards with the power to monitor police conduct are elected as well. Unfortunately, voter turnout in these local races is usually pitifully low, especially among young people -- which makes no sense given the direct impact these offices have on social justice issues, not to mention the fact that who wins and who loses those seats is often determined by just a few thousand, or even a few hundred, votes.
So the bottom line is this: If we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn't between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform.
Finally, the more specific we can make demands for criminal justice and police reform, the harder it will be for elected officials to just offer lip service to the cause and then fall back into business as usual once protests have gone away. The content of that reform agenda will be different for various communities. A big city may need one set of reforms; a rural community may need another. Some agencies will require wholesale rehabilitation; others should make minor improvements. Every law enforcement agency should have clear policies, including an independent body that conducts investigations of alleged misconduct. Tailoring reforms for each community will require local activists and organizations to do their research and educate fellow citizens in their community on what strategies work best.
But as a starting point, here's a report and toolkit developed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and based on the work of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing that I formed when I was in the White House. And if you're interested in taking concrete action, we've also created a dedicated site at the Obama Foundation to aggregate and direct you to useful resources and organizations who've been fighting the good fight at the local and national levels for years.
I recognize that these past few months have been hard and dispiriting -- that the fear, sorrow, uncertainty and hardship of a pandemic have been compounded by tragic reminders that prejudice and inequality still shape so much of American life. But watching the heightened activism of young people in recent weeks, of every race and every station, makes me hopeful. If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation's long journey to live up to our highest ideals.
Let's get to work."
Former President George W. Bush
Bush released this statement Tuesday:
"Laura and I are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country. Yet we have resisted the urge to speak out, because this is not the time for us to lecture. It is time for us to listen. It is time for America to examine our tragic failures -- and as we do, we will also see some of our redeeming strengths.
It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African-American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country. It is a strength when protesters, protected by responsible law enforcement, march for a better future. This tragedy -- in a long series of similar tragedies -- raises a long overdue question: How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America -- or how it becomes a better place.
America's greatest challenge has long been to unite people of very different backgrounds into a single nation of justice and opportunity. The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our union. The answers to American problems are found by living up to American ideals -- to the fundamental truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by God with certain rights. We have often underestimated how radical that quest really is, and how our cherished principles challenge systems of intended or assumed injustice.
The heroes of America -- from Frederick Douglass, to Harriet Tubman, to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King Jr. -- are heroes of unity. Their calling has never been for the fainthearted. They often revealed the nation's disturbing bigotry and exploitation -- stains on our character sometimes difficult for the American majority to examine. We can only see the reality of America's need by seeing it through the eyes of the threatened, oppressed and disenfranchised. That is exactly where we now stand.
Many doubt the justice of our country and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions. We know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress. But we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system. And achieving justice for all is the duty of all.
This will require a consistent, courageous and creative effort. We serve our neighbors best when we try to understand their experience. We love our neighbors as ourselves when we treat them as equals, in both protection and compassion. There is a better way -- the way of empathy and shared commitment and bold action and a peace rooted in justice. I am confident that together, Americans will choose the better way."
Former President Bill Clinton
File Photo by Ian Halperin/UPI
Clinton released this statement on Saturday:
"In the days since George Floyd's death, it is impossible not to feel grief for his family -- and anger, revulsion and frustration that his death is the latest in a long line of tragedy and injustice and a painful reminder that a person's race still determines how they will be treated in nearly every aspect of American life.
No one deserves to die the way George Floyd did. And the truth is, if you're white in America, the chances are you won't. That truth is what underlies the pain and the anger that so many are feeling and expressing -- that the path of an entire life can be measured and devalued by the color of one's skin.
Fifty-seven years ago, Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] dreamed of a day when his 'four little children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.' Today, that dream seems even more out of reach, and we'll never reach it if we keep treating people of color with the unspoken assumption that they're less human.
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We need to see each other as equally deserving of life, liberty, respect, dignity and the presumption of innocence. We need to ask ourselves and each other hard questions, and listen carefully to the answers.
Here's where I'd start.
If George Floyd had been white, handcuffed and lying on the ground, would he be alive today?
Why does this keep happening?
What can we do to ensure that every community has the police department it needs and deserves?
What can I do?
We can't honestly answer these questions in the divide and conquer, us vs. them, shift the blame and shirk the responsibility world we're living in. People with power should go first -- answer the questions, expand who's 'us' and shrink who's 'them,' accept some blame and assume more responsibility. But the rest of us have to answer these questions, too.
It's the least we can do for George Floyd's family, and the families of all other Americans who have been judged by the color of their skin rather than by the content of their character. The future of the country depends on it."
Moreover, it's important for us to understand which levels of government have the biggest impact on our criminal justice system and police practices. When we think about politics, a lot of us focus only on the presidency and the federal government. And yes, we should be fighting to make sure that we have a president, a Congress, a U.S. Justice Department and a federal judiciary that actually recognize the ongoing, corrosive role that racism plays in our society and want to do something about it. But the elected officials who matter most in reforming police departments and the criminal justice system work at the state and local levels.
It's mayors and county executives that appoint most police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police unions. It's district attorneys and state's attorneys that decide whether or not to investigate and ultimately charge those involved in police misconduct. Those are all elected positions. In some places, police review boards with the power to monitor police conduct are elected as well. Unfortunately, voter turnout in these local races is usually pitifully low, especially among young people -- which makes no sense given the direct impact these offices have on social justice issues, not to mention the fact that who wins and who loses those seats is often determined by just a few thousand, or even a few hundred, votes.
So the bottom line is this: If we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn't between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform.
Finally, the more specific we can make demands for criminal justice and police reform, the harder it will be for elected officials to just offer lip service to the cause and then fall back into business as usual once protests have gone away. The content of that reform agenda will be different for various communities. A big city may need one set of reforms; a rural community may need another. Some agencies will require wholesale rehabilitation; others should make minor improvements. Every law enforcement agency should have clear policies, including an independent body that conducts investigations of alleged misconduct. Tailoring reforms for each community will require local activists and organizations to do their research and educate fellow citizens in their community on what strategies work best.
But as a starting point, here's a report and toolkit developed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and based on the work of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing that I formed when I was in the White House. And if you're interested in taking concrete action, we've also created a dedicated site at the Obama Foundation to aggregate and direct you to useful resources and organizations who've been fighting the good fight at the local and national levels for years.
I recognize that these past few months have been hard and dispiriting -- that the fear, sorrow, uncertainty and hardship of a pandemic have been compounded by tragic reminders that prejudice and inequality still shape so much of American life. But watching the heightened activism of young people in recent weeks, of every race and every station, makes me hopeful. If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation's long journey to live up to our highest ideals.
Let's get to work."
Former President George W. Bush
Bush released this statement Tuesday:
"Laura and I are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country. Yet we have resisted the urge to speak out, because this is not the time for us to lecture. It is time for us to listen. It is time for America to examine our tragic failures -- and as we do, we will also see some of our redeeming strengths.
It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African-American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country. It is a strength when protesters, protected by responsible law enforcement, march for a better future. This tragedy -- in a long series of similar tragedies -- raises a long overdue question: How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America -- or how it becomes a better place.
America's greatest challenge has long been to unite people of very different backgrounds into a single nation of justice and opportunity. The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our union. The answers to American problems are found by living up to American ideals -- to the fundamental truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by God with certain rights. We have often underestimated how radical that quest really is, and how our cherished principles challenge systems of intended or assumed injustice.
The heroes of America -- from Frederick Douglass, to Harriet Tubman, to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King Jr. -- are heroes of unity. Their calling has never been for the fainthearted. They often revealed the nation's disturbing bigotry and exploitation -- stains on our character sometimes difficult for the American majority to examine. We can only see the reality of America's need by seeing it through the eyes of the threatened, oppressed and disenfranchised. That is exactly where we now stand.
Many doubt the justice of our country and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions. We know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress. But we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system. And achieving justice for all is the duty of all.
This will require a consistent, courageous and creative effort. We serve our neighbors best when we try to understand their experience. We love our neighbors as ourselves when we treat them as equals, in both protection and compassion. There is a better way -- the way of empathy and shared commitment and bold action and a peace rooted in justice. I am confident that together, Americans will choose the better way."
Former President Bill Clinton
File Photo by Ian Halperin/UPI
Clinton released this statement on Saturday:
"In the days since George Floyd's death, it is impossible not to feel grief for his family -- and anger, revulsion and frustration that his death is the latest in a long line of tragedy and injustice and a painful reminder that a person's race still determines how they will be treated in nearly every aspect of American life.
No one deserves to die the way George Floyd did. And the truth is, if you're white in America, the chances are you won't. That truth is what underlies the pain and the anger that so many are feeling and expressing -- that the path of an entire life can be measured and devalued by the color of one's skin.
Fifty-seven years ago, Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] dreamed of a day when his 'four little children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.' Today, that dream seems even more out of reach, and we'll never reach it if we keep treating people of color with the unspoken assumption that they're less human.
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We need to see each other as equally deserving of life, liberty, respect, dignity and the presumption of innocence. We need to ask ourselves and each other hard questions, and listen carefully to the answers.
Here's where I'd start.
If George Floyd had been white, handcuffed and lying on the ground, would he be alive today?
Why does this keep happening?
What can we do to ensure that every community has the police department it needs and deserves?
What can I do?
We can't honestly answer these questions in the divide and conquer, us vs. them, shift the blame and shirk the responsibility world we're living in. People with power should go first -- answer the questions, expand who's 'us' and shrink who's 'them,' accept some blame and assume more responsibility. But the rest of us have to answer these questions, too.
It's the least we can do for George Floyd's family, and the families of all other Americans who have been judged by the color of their skin rather than by the content of their character. The future of the country depends on it."
Cornel West on Pandemic Capitalism
On this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents updates on how pandemic and capitalism are combining to worsen social divides in the US. Special guest Cornel West joins the show to talk about (1) how pandemic + economic crash are affecting US society and (2) the prospects for social change. READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: https://www.democracyatwork.info/eu_c...
NYC HEALTH CARE WORKERS FOR BLM
Healthcare workers gather in Times Square for the 7 p.m. daily "Thank You Hour" to honor essential medical workers and to protest on Blackout Tuesday in New York City on June 2. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
BLM POLICE SOLIDARITY
Baltimore police officers kneel in solidarity with protesters at City Hall in Baltimore on June 1. Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI | License Photo
Pentagon science adviser quits over security tactics for Trump church photos
By Don Jacobson
President Donald Trump walks from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Monday. At the church, Trump posed while holding a Bible. The security tactics used for Trump's walk to the church have generated much controversy. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo
June 3 (UPI) -- A Pentagon adviser has resigned from his post in protest over Defense Secretary Mike Esper's involvement in a controversial photo opportunity and tactics used to snap a picture of President Donald Trump in front of a historic Washington, D.C., church.
James Miller, who served as under secretary of defense for policy from 2012 to 2014, resigned from his position on the Pentagon's science board Tuesday in a letter published by The Washington Post.
Miller cited Monday's photos at the historic St. John's Episcopal Church, which were preceded by federal law enforcement officers forcefully clearing peaceful protesters from the area so Trump could walk there. In the photos, Trump is holding a Bible.
Moments earlier, Trump had threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military troops to states that failed to "solve" their violent demonstrations.
RELATED House defense committee chair demands clarity on potential domestic military use
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser called the tactics "shameful" and Rev. Mariann Budde, the district's Episcopal bishop, said she was "outraged" and was given no notice the church would be used "as a prop."
President Donald Trump walks from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Monday. At the church, Trump posed while holding a Bible. The security tactics used for Trump's walk to the church have generated much controversy. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI
In his resignation letter, Miller said Esper violated his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution by "visibly supporting" Trump's photo plan.
"Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets -- not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op" he said. "You (Esper) then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church for that photo."
Trump's actions, Miller said, "violated his oath to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed," as well as the First Amendment right of the people to peaceably assemble.
"You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it."
Esper told NBC News he didn't know beforehand that Trump would walk to the church. He said he thought they were going to view damage cased by violent protesters and speak with federal troops.
RELATED George Floyd protests: Pentagon moves 1,600 troops to D.C. area
CNN reported that U.S. Attorney General William Barr had ordered the removal of protesters who'd gathered near the White House. Authorities had planned to secure a wide perimeter for the walk, but Barr gave the order for the demonstrators to be cleared when he saw the crowds, CNN's report said.
U.S. Park Police said their move to clear Lafayette Square, north of the White House, before the start a scheduled curfew on Monday was unrelated to Trump's visit to the church.
Some top Republican U.S. Senators have supported Trump's move. A "sense of Congress" resolution condemning his actions failed to achieve unanimous consent after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell objected because it didn't sufficiently condemn rioting.
By Don Jacobson
President Donald Trump walks from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Monday. At the church, Trump posed while holding a Bible. The security tactics used for Trump's walk to the church have generated much controversy. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo
June 3 (UPI) -- A Pentagon adviser has resigned from his post in protest over Defense Secretary Mike Esper's involvement in a controversial photo opportunity and tactics used to snap a picture of President Donald Trump in front of a historic Washington, D.C., church.
James Miller, who served as under secretary of defense for policy from 2012 to 2014, resigned from his position on the Pentagon's science board Tuesday in a letter published by The Washington Post.
Miller cited Monday's photos at the historic St. John's Episcopal Church, which were preceded by federal law enforcement officers forcefully clearing peaceful protesters from the area so Trump could walk there. In the photos, Trump is holding a Bible.
Moments earlier, Trump had threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military troops to states that failed to "solve" their violent demonstrations.
RELATED House defense committee chair demands clarity on potential domestic military use
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser called the tactics "shameful" and Rev. Mariann Budde, the district's Episcopal bishop, said she was "outraged" and was given no notice the church would be used "as a prop."
President Donald Trump walks from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Monday. At the church, Trump posed while holding a Bible. The security tactics used for Trump's walk to the church have generated much controversy. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI
In his resignation letter, Miller said Esper violated his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution by "visibly supporting" Trump's photo plan.
"Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets -- not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op" he said. "You (Esper) then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church for that photo."
Trump's actions, Miller said, "violated his oath to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed," as well as the First Amendment right of the people to peaceably assemble.
"You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it."
Esper told NBC News he didn't know beforehand that Trump would walk to the church. He said he thought they were going to view damage cased by violent protesters and speak with federal troops.
RELATED George Floyd protests: Pentagon moves 1,600 troops to D.C. area
CNN reported that U.S. Attorney General William Barr had ordered the removal of protesters who'd gathered near the White House. Authorities had planned to secure a wide perimeter for the walk, but Barr gave the order for the demonstrators to be cleared when he saw the crowds, CNN's report said.
U.S. Park Police said their move to clear Lafayette Square, north of the White House, before the start a scheduled curfew on Monday was unrelated to Trump's visit to the church.
Some top Republican U.S. Senators have supported Trump's move. A "sense of Congress" resolution condemning his actions failed to achieve unanimous consent after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell objected because it didn't sufficiently condemn rioting.
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