Police Reform, Empty Promises, and This Moment
A memorial to George Floyd at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and East 38th Street in Minneapolis, where he was killed by police on May 25. Photo by Fibonacci Blue.
We are in the middle of a societal inflection point. Americans will either stand up to defend Black lives, or they will remain silently complicit in the preservation of centuries-old white supremacy in our country.
Exactly a year ago, then-presidential candidate Julián Castro unveiled his ‘People First Policing Plan’, which called for an overhaul of police departments all across the United States. This specific policy proposal calls for mandatory de-escalation procedures and alternatives to deadly force, demilitarizing the police by ending the 1033 program and preventing the transfer of military equipment to police departments, establishing a public national database that tracks offenses committed by police officers, and investing in community-based programs that replace criminal justice interventions.
But he fell short. Julián Castro suspended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and his progressive agenda did little to influence the platforms of other candidates for president.
A year later, we are a nation in mourning. Our country has also fallen short—yet again, at a tragic cost of more and more Black lives. David Remnick wrote about Democratic politicians’ failure to prevent the death of George Floyd in his most recent article in The New Yorker:
But the human capacity for patience and endurance, in the face of blatant injustice, is not without limits. The ballot also has its limits. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, and Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, are liberal-minded members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party; in the end, that did not protect the life of George Floyd.
Despite backing policies that call for police reform, many high-profile Democrats such as Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris have received criticism for being powerful prosecutors that failed to pursue cases dealing with police misconduct. During her eight years as the Hennepin County Attorney in Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar did not pursue a single case regarding fatalities related to law enforcement encounters. Many civil rights leaders have gone on the record regarding their disappointment with Klobuchar’s tenure as county attorney, stating that her action on police brutality and misconduct was insufficient. Kamala Harris, who served as Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017, has been criticized by activists for failing to investigate several fatal police shootings, including the ones that resulted in the deaths of Ezell Ford and Mario Woods. Despite some victories, like the creation of OpenJustice, a California Department of Justice database that keeps records of deaths and injuries occurring in police custody, activists define her tenure as regressive and on the wrong side of history.
Failures to prosecute fatal police shootings are just one facet of a larger, systemic issue of racial bias in policing and criminal justice as a whole. Since 2015, data from the Washington Post shows that there have been more than 5,000 deaths resulting from police shootings—African-Americans make up the largest percentage of these deaths, and are found to be more than twice as likely to be shot than white Americans. Faced with decades of inaction, it is no longer enough to simply demand that prosecutors investigate these tragic deaths: instead, police departments across the country must be steadily and incrementally defunded in order to diminish their overbearing presence in Black communities. Democrats must do better by addressing this tragic phenomenon at its core and acknowledging the ways in which simple reform routinely falls short.
Shortly after his first speech addressing the nation after the death of George Floyd, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, called on none other than Julián Castro to lead the effort on police reform for his campaign. Since Castro was the candidate with the most progressive policies regarding the issue, this is a critical first step and a promising sign. However, do not forget that politicians—including Democratic ones—have failed their communities on policing time and time again. The senseless murders of Black people at the hands of police need to end.
My skeptical hope is that Democratic leaders across the country may be forced to take meaningful action at last. Enormous pressure has built up from days of activists’ incessant and ubiquitous protests—held in all 50 states and in more than 400 cities—in the wake of the recent heartbreaking deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, and Tony McDade. Reverend Al Sharpton, with the family of George Floyd, announced plans for a march in Washington D.C. in late August to demand a federal policing equality act from lawmakers. Democrats must heed them: it is more important than ever for Biden’s campaign to meet the needs and demands of Black activists.
Now is the time to remain engaged and vigilant as politicians react to the outcry for justice from Black America. Be especially wary of Democrats who claim they will try to do better. We can’t afford their lip service anymore—the cost is too high.
Maria Castillo is the Publisher of the Columbia Political Review and a rising senior at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences studying Environmental Engineering and Political Science. She thinks you should donate to bail funds and Black-owned businesses and community organizations across the United States if you’re financially able.