John,
Videos of police terror have defined the last decade. America has reached a place where technology has greatly outpaced our morality. We are living in a country whose Constitution pretends to protect us all and grant everyone equal liberties under the law, but in reality, we are helpless in our homes and on the streets, to the unrestrained power of the police.
When you're Black, or poor, hyper surveillance and police violence is propagated as public safety. But potentially, we are all subject to it, just as we saw last summer; even if you’re middle-class or white, the police can abuse you too.
Sign our petition demanding police accountability and the end of qualified immunity!
John, when you think about how many incidents, of state-sanctioned violence, never make it to mainstream media it becomes obvious that police terror is not an aberration— it’s a pattern.
This week, as we celebrate the life of Breonna Taylor and mourn the injustice of her murder, we ask you to remember that throughout the United States, Black people are, every day, subject to brutalization by the misconduct of police, and in communities of color it is not a rare event. We need only consider the wave of killings and state-sanctioned police violence that sparked the uprisings last summer to be reminded that for Black people this is a fact of everyday life.
Qualified immunity prevents individuals and their families from holding police officers accountable for the countless harms they’ve committed against Black people and communities of color by creating a firewall around police misconduct. Color Of Change is proud to support Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Warren Markey’s push to end this institutional impediment.
It’s time to reimagine public safety and that starts with ending qualified immunity.
Past reforms to our nation’s racist and predatory policing system have done nothing to change the material conditions of Black people. Qualified immunity is an unjust law that gives cops unique protection that no other profession holds. Since 1967, the Supreme Court has issued several decisions, preventing police officers from being criminally indicted or being sued for abuse of power or misconduct. In response to heinous and unjust acts of police terror, including the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Representative Ayanna Pressley and Senator Ed Markey have introduced legislation to end qualified immunity.
Take action by telling your Congress you support the End Qualified Immunity Act!
Here’s the bottom line, John: we must confront this phenomenon of white supremacist police terror and debunk any claim that what Black people are experiencing is relative to occasional errors, or the personality of a particular police officer, or the characteristics of a particular neighborhood. We all deserve equal protection under the law and police officers who brutalize Black people must be held accountable.
Until Justice is Real,
Erika, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Ariel, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Madison, Trevor, Ana, McKayla
References:
- The Problem of Qualified Immunity and the Need for Reform, Equal Justice Initiative
- Ending Qualified Immunity Act, Ayanna Pressley
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please help keep our movement strong.
