This week, I and more than 30 of my colleagues in the House introduced a resolution to address police violence in our country. It calls for Congress to condemn police brutality, racial profiling, and the use of excessive and militarized force.
More importantly, it also calls for the systemic reforms necessary to stem police violence against marginalized communities, including:
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Ending militarized policing practices in our communities;
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Stringent oversight, prompt investigations, and maximum accountability for law enforcement officers and police departments responsible for police brutality, racial profiling and violence;
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Restoring the authority of the Department of Justice to investigate police brutality and racial profiling by officers and police departments that repeatedly violate civil rights;
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Creating a robust system of local and community-led transparency and oversight efforts, including all-civilian review boards with the authority to effectively investigate incidents of police misconduct;
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Systemic overhaul of law enforcement policies at all levels of government to reduce the disparate impact of police brutality and use of force on Black and Brown people and other historically marginalized communities.
Calling out and condemning systemic racism and police abuse is important. But a commitment to justice means backing our convictions with action: confronting the status quo, making a plan for change, and following through with that plan.
I signed on to this resolution to make my priorities clear; white supremacy is baked in to our criminal justice system. We won’t end our country’s epidemic of state-sponsored racist violence by relying on the same failed systems or by advocating incremental change.
Protesters around the country have returned over and over to the refrain no justice, no peace. Our country won’t rest – and shouldn’t rest – until we’ve made bold, fundamental reforms to ensure our founding documents’ promises of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
In solidarity,
Peter |
