Dear John,
UPDATE: It has been nearly four months since five Memphis Police officers brutally murdered Tyre Nichols, and we still are advocating for justice. This week, the family of Tyre Nichols filed a $550 million civil lawsuit against the City of Memphis and its police department.1
This news comes months after hundreds of people have gathered to offer testimony, and some were even banned from Memphis City Council hearings, all in an effort to pressure the city to hold cops accountable.
On April 11, local organizers, Nichols family members, and community members achieved a monumental victory! 2 The Memphis City Council tabled the Tyre Nichols Justice in Policing Ordinance. Despite the name, the ordinance does nothing to prevent deadly police interactions at traffic stops or to keep our communities safe. If passed, it would have overturned five critical ordinances that previously were passed.3
SIGN THE PETITION. DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and The Department of Transportation (DOT) fund pretextual stops by your local police department. Pretextual stops are when police officers stop a vehicle to conduct a speculative criminal investigation unrelated to the motorist's driving, and not to enforce the traffic code.
DOT’s funding comes with little guidance to avoid the well-established harms of police traffic enforcement — from racial inequities in stops, searches and citations, to uses of force and police killings. Not only that, but their funding also doesn’t require data collection that might allow communities to assess these harms. Instead of keeping Black communities safe, they have created programs with little oversight that do nothing to prioritize our well-being.
HOLD THE DOJ/DOT ACCOUNTABLE. DEMAND JUSTICE FOR TYRE.
Police associations have been working to undermine police accountability efforts in Memphis, especially when it comes to the use of pretextual stops. Representatives of the Memphis Police Association explicitly shared their disapproval of accountability measures by using state law to undermine the City Council initiatives.4
This isn’t a coincidence, John. Police associations and unions are trying to undermine the justice work of our communities across the country. Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police is known for fabricating questionable narratives around police shootings to establish credibility and power and to shift blame from abusive police officers to their victims.5
That’s why we’re looking at the DOJ and DOT to take action by reducing police violence in traffic encounters. Federal tax dollars allocated to the DOJ and DOT should not be put into programs that further criminalize and kill Black people for driving.
Until justice is real,
Color Of Change Government Affairs Team
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