Policing affects everyone, everywhere. Yet African Americans get hit particularly hard by racism and police violence.

Juneteenth and the end of the Civil War in 1865 did not end war against black people.

From the killing of 26 year-old emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor in Louisville to the calculated assassination of 21 year-old anti-racist organizer Fred Hampton in Chicago 1969, city police have even shot and killed black people sleeping in bed [1].

From Tulsa and Rosewood in the 1920s to Philadelphia in 1985, white police officers have directly engaged in attacks and mass killings of African Americans—which often included burning down dozens, if not hundreds, of black people’s homes [2]. Deprivation, discrimination, and devastation have characterized the terms and conditions for black participation in U.S. society since its beginning.

The 2009 arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who had “broken and entered" into his own home, highlighted how wealth and prestige does not protect African Americans from racial profiling in the United States.

Profiling and police brutality do not stem solely from the personal biases of individual officers. Rather, class disparity intersects with racism to produce perpetual and systemic inequality [3].

Not only do blacks, on average, have approximately one tenth the net worth of whites in the U.S., but black families headed by college graduates have on average 30% less net worth than white families headed by high school drop-outs [4]. African Americans suffer from worse health, less quality health care, disproportional health consequences from pollution, and, most recently, experience more death and illness due to the pandemic than whites [5]. On top of all this, unemployment and lockdown measures hit African Americans hardest including excessive arrest rates [6]. Police increasingly use facial recognition technology (an affront to everyone) that disadvantages blacks (whom it more often misidentifies) [7]. Finally, blacks and whites have similar rates of drug use yet African Americans get arrested and punished at a much higher rate (the imprisonment rate for drug charges can reach nearly 6 times as much for blacks as for whites) [8]. Economic hardship, widespread prejudice, excessive convictions, and chains of debt enable self-perpetuating cycles of injustice.

The massive uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement has forced public officials to respond with legislation including an executive order, a congressional Justice in Policing Act, and city-level commitments to defund police in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. Yet addressing racism and police violence effectively means addressing these issues locally and current city regulations vary widely across the United States [9]. Each city has to determine what works best locally according to local needs and resources but each city can have this conversation now.

Therefore, we call on every single city to publicly review and reassess city regulation of police as well as consequences of police brutality, programs for independent citizen review, and police/incarceration budgets in relation to vital health and social service programs.

We call on each city to account for how local policing disproportionately affects blacks, other minorities, and low-income households as well as how the city measures—and addresses—police bias.

Finally, we call on each city to publicly debate and seriously consider the following proposals:

(1) Implementing the strictest existing regulations found in the United States regarding police practice (including clear directives and limitations regarding use of force, requiring reports for each use of force or threat to do so, requiring officers to intervene when fellow officers engage in abuse, and severe consequences for unjustified violence).

(2) Redirecting funding from the police budget toward health and social services, education, housing, alternative safety programs, as well as diversity training for all city workers.

(3) Banning certain practices (e.g., chokeholds, shooting at escaping vehicles or individuals, no-knock warrants, etc.) and technologies (e.g., facial recognition programs, rubber bullets, military grade weapons and SWAT teams, weaponized drones, etc.).

 

Earth justice needs racial justice.

Let’s act today!

 

Sources:

[1] “Here’s What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death.” New York Times.

“The Assassination of Fred Hampton How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther.” Democracy Now!

Also see, “Violence in Minneapolis is rooted in the history of racist policing in America.” Washington Post.

“Sandra Bland, Philando Castile and now Charleena Lyles. Scream their names for all to hear.” Los Angeles Times.

#SayHerName: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women.

“Unarmed People of Color Killed by Police, 1999-2014.” Gawker.

[2] Encyclopedia of American Race Riots, Volumes 1 & 2. Greenwood Milestones in African American History.

[3] “Police Shootings Are About Class as Well as Race.” Huffington Post.

“There’s overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice system is racist. Here’s the proof.” Washington Post.

[4] “Examining the Black-white wealth gap.” Brookings Institute.

“Average White high school dropout earns more than Black college grad.” Rollingout.

Net worth disparity: “Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America.” Urban Institute.

[5] “Racial Bias in Health Care and Health: Challenges and Opportunities.” JAMA.

Pollutant exposure disparity: “EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real.” The Atlantic.

Health disparities and the pandemic: “How the coronavirus exposed health disparities in communities of color.” Washington Post.

“Human Rights Watch Testimony to US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.” Human Rights Watch.

[6] Unemployment disparity: “Black Workers, Already Lagging, Face Big Economic Risks.”  New York Times.

“Scrutiny of Social-Distance Policing as 35 of 40 Arrested Are Black.” New York Times.

“Early Data Shows Black People Are Being Disproportionally Arrested for Social Distancing Violations.” ProPublica.

[7]  “Facial Recognition.” Last Week Tonight.

“‘It’s techno-racism’: Detroit is quietly using facial recognition to make arrests.” The Guardian.

[8] “Criminal Justice Fact Sheet.” NAACP.

“War on Drugs Policing and Police Brutality.” Substance Use & Misuse.

“The War on Marijuana in Black and White.” ACLU.

[9] The Police Use of Force Project has charted city policies across the U.S. For the full review, check here. For an edited overview: “Here Are the Cities Where Cops Are Allowed to Choke You.” Reason.

 

Notes: This petition directs itself to all U.S. cities but lists one dozen cities to stand in for all of them. EarthBond U operates as a 501(c)(3) educational organization and addresses critical issues of our shared ecology as well as various interconnected issues required for collective healing. Image credit: Seth Tobocman artwork modified by EarthBond U.