Which means it\u2019ll be up to cities and states to overhaul the nation\u2019s beleaguered criminal justice system. But so far, results are mixed. <\/p>\n
In the wake of Floyd\u2019s death in May, 25 states enacted new policing laws. But even so, some of those new laws have little to do with improved policing or increased accountability. Instead, they focus on lessening bureaucratic hurdles such as easing residency requirements. <\/p>\n
Other laws prohibit chokeholds, update training standards and require officers to have body-worn cameras. Other notable policies include laws that increase penalties for falsely summoning officers or making false reports. Whether those reforms represent real change depends on whom you ask.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf \u2018reimagining policing\u2019 is a phrase, if \u2018defund the police\u2019 is a phrase, if \u2018abolish the police\u2019 is a phrase, how do we move from essentially a hashtag to budget-specific, legislative-specific, regulatory-specific, community-specific solutions in real time?\u201d said Cornell William Brooks, professor of the practice of public leadership and social justice at Harvard University <\/b>and a former NAACP president.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to call for a whole-scale transformation,\u201d said Brooks who is working with a team of students to help mayors reimagine what policing looks like in terms of budgets, legislation, regulation and police culture. <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s just as necessary, Brooks said, \u201cto figure out, \u2018What does that mean at a granular level?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
‘I can\u2019t breathe’<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Floyd\u2019s death nine months ago was unlike any of those before him. It was familiar in the sense that, yet again, an unarmed Black American was killed by a white police officer. And as he begged for oxygen, his cries mirrored the language of Eric Garner nearly six years prior. Garner, a Black man who was put into a fatal chokehold by police, repeatedly said, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d while under restraint.<\/p>\n The deaths of Taylor, Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, Atatiana Jefferson, Botham Jean, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Laquan McDonald, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray and so many others like them who were killed by police officers or vigilantes sparked outrage and protests. But the aftermath of Floyd\u2019s death was different.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just disappointing and really heartbreaking to see just how little progress was made to the point where a police officer could kneel on someone for almost nine minutes, with people videotaping \u2014 and they could see folks filming them \u2014 with the whole world watching and not care,\u201d said Erika Maye, deputy director of criminal justice and democracy campaigns with the racial justice organization Color Of Change.<\/p>\n Footage of Floyd\u2019s fatal encounter reverberated across the globe, uniting people of all races, and igniting worldwide protests for racial justice and against police brutality.<\/p>\n \u201cI never expected it to turn into what it did,\u201d New York state Sen. Brian Benjamin said of the ensuing movement. \u201cThis took on a life of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat level of interaction and interest across the board is what changed the game here in New York state,\u201d said Benjamin, a candidate for New York City comptroller, who introduced anti-chokehold legislation after Garner\u2019s death. The bill passed in June in \u201crecord time,\u201d Benjamin said. <\/p>\n \u201cAll of a sudden this became an issue for everybody,\u201d Benjamin said. <\/p>\n Last week, leaders from civil rights groups convened a virtual news conference to demand the passage of the federal police reform bill. <\/p>\n Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, said the bill is just as important as the legislation that came out of the 1960s civil rights movement \u2014 the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be going to Minneapolis for the jury selection of the police officer that lynched George Floyd with his knee,\u201d Sharpton told reporters. \u201cThe family will have to sit there and relive this. <\/p>\n \u201cI would hope that they would be able to sit there knowing that the laws have changed and that George was not lynched in vain and that the Senate of 2021 has the same backbone and integrity that the Senate had in 1964.\u201d<\/p>\n Reimagining policing<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Floyd\u2019s death has opened a new level of conversation about policing in communities across the country. Despite the villainization of the slogan to \u201cdefund the police,\u201d policymakers and policy experts say they\u2019re now able to have conversations about reimagining policing and holding police accountable in a way they couldn\u2019t before.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defund movement is about taking away resources or shifting resources, which doesn\u2019t do anything for improving accountability and oversight for whatever remains after the defunding or shifting of resources,\u201d said Loren Taylor, an Oakland city council member. \u201cThe reality is if you want police to do better, you hold them accountable. If you want them to do less, you take away resources.\u201d<\/p>\n Floyd\u2019s death showed plainly the type of experiences Black people have long had with law enforcement, leading to increased support for the Black Lives Matter movement, the acknowledgment of racism and the role it plays in American society, and conversations about addressing the many inequities African Americans face in housing, health care, education, employment and other areas.<\/p>\n Still, that talk hasn\u2019t led to action everywhere. As the Chauvin trial nears, Dave Bicking, a board member of Minneapolis-based Communities United Against Police Brutality, said the city is already off to a bad start. <\/p>\n Bicking said Minneapolis is creating a false narrative by putting up fences and barbed wire and planning to bring in the National Guard, arguing that police violence is what the city should be concerned about. He also said the city council has fallen short on enacting meaningful, post-Floyd policy changes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been very little change,\u201d Bicking said. \u201cThere\u2019s radical talk but no action to speak of. A few steps backward and a process, I think, designed to lead to nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite talk of defunding or even abolishing police in Minneapolis, Bicking said, neither outcome looks likely.<\/p>\n \u201cThe net effect of it has been virtually nothing has changed,\u201d he added. \u201cThe people in our city government don\u2019t act like they realize this is the epicenter of a movement, a huge movement, and something which is history-making and which is for better or worse going to really cause some change here.\u201d<\/p>\n Black Americans are hopeful Chauvin will be convicted. But many have learned not to get their hopes up after disappointing outcomes in high-profile cases that have led to acquittal or no indictment in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack people have been let down a lot, on so many levels, and when it comes to trust, I think as a people we definitely have trust issues. Rightfully so,\u201d said Kamau Marshall, a former spokesperson for Joe Biden\u2019s presidential campaign and a former senior congressional staffer. \u201cWe all know what the outcome should be, but what we\u2019ve seen in the past with various outcomes in most cases have not gone the best way.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that a grand jury voted not to indict any officers involved in the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who was experiencing a psychotic episode when police handcuffed him, put a mesh hood over his head and pinned him to the ground until he was unconscious. <\/p>\n The grand jury\u2019s decision was a disappointment, but not a surprise for Tianna Ma\u00f1\u00f3n, CEO of Ma\u00f1\u00f3n Media Management and a former journalist who now works with reporters and newsrooms on equity in coverage and storytelling. <\/p>\n \u201cYou knew this was coming and yet it still hurts,\u201d Ma\u00f1\u00f3n said. \u201cIt\u2019s a pain you can\u2019t prepare for because these people are just gonna continue living their lives, and not even just continue living their lives but within this community, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n Sakira Cook, senior director of the justice program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said she hopes the prosecution can prove that Chauvin acted outside the bounds of the law and took Floyd\u2019s life with what he thought was impunity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not often the case that officers are arrested, indicted and then put on trial for these types of incidents,\u201d she said. \u201cSo anytime that does happen, that is a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no consensus on what Floyd\u2019s legacy will be. Some say it\u2019s too soon to say, while others envision a future where police departments cease to exist as conversations about rethinking public safety and who should respond to what continue. But perhaps Floyd\u2019s daughter said it best.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep replaying in my mind the clip of his daughter saying, \u2018My daddy changed the world,\u2019\u201d Cook said. \u201cAnd that, for me, sums up beautifully what I hope his legacy will be. I hope we will look at that moment as the spark that ignited a transformation in this country on all fronts but also one that permeated the rest of the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Demonstrators](\"https:\/\/static.politico.com\/c8\/71\/9dc04e2845d9abc772f67d046089\/20210126-george-floyd-protests-ap-773.jpg\")
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