Here is another essay by my friend and member of Justice For All Marcia Hill.  Her wisdom and courage shine through in all she says.  Thank you Marcia!

Essay by Marcia Hill
Our country has now chosen the most openly racist president-elect in the modern era. White people elected Trump: the overwhelming majority of white men voted for him, and a slight majority of white women did also. At the very least, this implies that Trump’s racism was not a deal-breaker for those voters. At worst, some voters chose him because of his racism.
What does this mean for us as citizens? That racism is powerful and deeply entrenched in the United States is no longer in doubt, if it ever was. We are a country founded in the genocide of the Native American population and built upon the unpaid labor of African slaves. In spite of repeated efforts toward racial justice, ultimately we have not had the will to create a society that treats people fairly in schools or the workplace or in the judicial system or in our communities when it comes to race. Now we stand on the brink of turning away from even the pretense of wanting a just society.
You may or may not have voted for Donald Trump, but we all have to face that we are part of a nation that has chosen a more racist path. We have done so by permitting clearly racist practices, as in the judicial system, and we have done so by avoidance, choosing not to address the problems of race in our country.
Some white people are openly racist; I am not addressing them, since it will take generations of change to diminish that reality. I am speaking to white people of good will, regardless which candidate you supported, who do not consider themselves to be racist. To these white people, I would say: this is our responsibility. This is your responsibility, yours and mine. This is true even if you voted for Hillary Clinton or another candidate. We have made many gains, but we have not eliminated racial inequality. All white people have white privilege, and we have not used our privilege effectively to change racism in the United States. We must do it now, with intention and persistence. Here are some suggestions.
1. Every day, remember that you are a white person with unearned privilege. People of color do not have the luxury of forgetting who they are in this country. Being white is not a bad thing, and you did not ask for white privilege. If you forget that you have it, however, you are complicit with a racial system that benefits some over others and does so unremarked.
2. Talk about race. Especially talk with other white people about race. Racism thrives when it is not discussed. Conversely, it is difficult to hold onto a bias when you expose it to scrutiny.
3. Educate yourself about race. Two good books are The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, and Understanding and Dismantling Racism by William Brandt.
4. If it is safe to do so, intervene when you see instances of racism. Remember that racism includes bias against Muslims as well as anti-Semitism. The time has come to speak up. Silence is a form of collusion.
5. Stay aware of your values. Antiracist work and life is grounded in the honoring of all people, in the longing for beloved community, in the sacred task of truly loving your neighbor.

We have a challenging road ahead. The racist roots of America have been uncovered. We are at a crossroads: who will we become? Complacency is a form of agreement with the status quo. An internal belief in equality is not enough. We must act. Even if we are afraid, we must act. With the fiercest of love, we must act.

PRESS RELEASE:
For immediate Release:
Montpelier, Vermont November 2, 2016 – Justice For All announced the initial appointment of a Board of Directors. These Directors will provide the oversight and vision to lead the Vermont based, racial justice nonprofit organization into 2017 and beyond.
Members of the board include Joan Javier Duval, Minister of the Unitarian Church of Montpelier; Faisal Gill, Partner with Gill Investment Group and recent candidate for Vermont State Senate; Kevin (Coach Christie), an educator and coach in Vermont for over the last 40 years; Claudia Pringles, an attorney with a practice dedicated to special needs; Kesha Ram, former Vermont legislator and Lieutenant Governor candidate; Joseph Gainza, Founder of Vermont Action for Peace and lifelong peace and justice activist; David Scherr, a practicing attorney, member of the board of trustees for the Farm Wilderness Foundation and former candidate for state senate; Christine Longmore, Burlington Police Commissioner and Offender Workforce Development Program Manager, and Allyson Sironi, Co-founder of Justice For All. “I am excited to have such a powerhouse of passion, professionalism, vision and leadership” Mark Hughes, Co-founder of Justice For All commented.

###
About Justice For All
Justice for All is a Vermont-based, racial justice non-profit organization that identifies and dismantles institutionalized racism and facilitates healing and empowerment in Vermont communities. They ensure justice for all through community organizing, research, education, community policing, legislative reform and judicial monitoring. To this end they address systemic issues such as racially biased policing and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Justice For All Continues Work!

Justice For All was founded two-and-a half years ago as we became angered and frustrated at the fact that black American (men) were being killed by law enforcement with seeming impunity.  Our vision began to grow as we discovered that the problem that we were seeing actually went far beyond law enforcement and indeed was pervasive throughout the entire criminal justice system.  Through our research, we then came to understand that because our nation was stolen in genocide and built on slavery, all of us have biases that inform our decisions.  As a result of this we have made progress in understanding the racial disparities that have been created in not only the criminal justice system but in areas of employment, housing, education, health services and the political process itself.  In light of the high bar that exists in our legal system to enable relief to be provided from this oppression we have relegated to discussions on implicit bias with hopes that some voluntary progress can be made on a path forward towards equality.

We address institutionalized racism from an implicit bias perspective, while seeking to cultivate relationships and working a systematic approach within institutions and educating and facilitating empowerment in communities. We see now more than ever, as a result of the racial referendum communicated by our national elections that this approach to the work of racial justice reform must be shared (and expanded upon) across our communities in Vermont and beyond.    It is our hope that as we work in collaboration with state and local officials, we create a model that we can hold up for other states to emulate in addressing the racial disparities created by institutionalized racism.

Now is the time become a supporter or member of Justice For All or offer your contributions to our continued work.  Here are some additional opportunities to support the ongoing work that Justice For All is doing.

1. Here, you can support the #DecisionPoints campaign where we are working to determine innovative approaches to data collection to provide transparency and accountability in the criminal justice system.
2. Here is an opportunity to sign our ongoing petition for civilian oversight of all law enforcement in the state of Vermont.
3. And here is you chance to sign our existing petition and/or contribute to the associated fundraiser for our Racial Justice Reform and Vermont Constitutional Amendment campaign.

Come out and join us at an Action Meeting and learn how you can become involved in the many ongoing activities and offer your support in outreach, research and relationship management.  Help us drive the membership of this vitally important organically grown Vermont-based racial justice nonprofit.  Our resolve to do this work will not be shaken.  Current national issues only validate the importance of the work we do.  We need you now more than ever to join us in the proactive work that we are doing to advance the cause of racial justice in Vermont and beyond.

Mark Hughes, JFA Co-Founder
`

About Justice For All

Justice for All is a racial justice organization, which identifies and dismantles institutionalized racism while facilitating healing in our communities.  Our mission is to ensure justice for ALL through community organizing, research, education, community policing, legislative reform, and judicial monitoring. We address systemic issues such as racially biased policing and inequities in the criminal justice system.

A black church in the Mississippi Delta was burned and vandalized with pro-Trump graffiti in what law enforcement is now calling an attempt at voter intimidation. 

Source: Authorities Suspect Voter Intimidation in Burning, Vandalism of Mississippi Church | Southern Poverty Law Center

Data collected by the state police point to racial disparities in traffic stops – and apparently the number of incidents is rising — in spite of increased

Source: Police Data Show Racial Bias, But What About The Rest Of The Criminal Justice System?

Data collected by the state police point to racial disparities in traffic stops – and apparently the number of incidents is rising — in spite of increased attention to the issue.

But what about racial bias in the rest of Vermont’s criminal justice system?

A recent national report by the Sentencing Project on racial and ethnic disparities in state prisons says Vermont has one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates of African Americans compared to whites, based on the state’s population; a ratio of more than 10:1.

Audio for this piece will be posted.

In other words, the percentage of blacks in Vermont’s prisons is 10 times the percentage of blacks in the state’s overall population.

“I guess what I’m surprised about is where we stood on a national level,” says Mark Hughes, co-founder of the Montpelier-based organization Justice For All.

“Department of Corrections, they don’t drive around picking folks up arbitrarily, there’s an entire criminal justice apparatus that we need to acknowledge,” Hughes adds.

Attorney Robert Appel served for eight years as the state’s Defender General.

He says in a place like Vermont, with an overwhelmingly white population, our own stereotyping and biases are at the root of racial disparities in the state’s prisons.

“I think the reason we have such gross disparity in the incarcerative population for African Americans is because they’re more likely to be drawn to the attention to the police,” Appel says.

“In fairness to the police, community members call up and say, ‘there’s three black male teenagers hanging out in the parking lot, they have their hats on sideways and they’re wearing baggy pants. Send a car’. And they found something, or it escalated.”

Appel compares the criminal justice system to a funnel. Law enforcement is the wide entry point, which is why he says there should be a focus on bias in policing.

But Appel says there are plenty of other opportunities for racial bias to show up in the multitude of choices made by prosecutors, by courts and by the corrections department.

Every step of the way there are decisions about bail, plea agreements, sentencing recommendations and parole – all potentially subject to the biases of those who make them.

“It’s discretion upon discretion, upon discretion, upon discretion, upon discretion,” says Appel.

For example, Vermont’s 14 State’s Attorneys who prosecute cases operate fairly independently. No research has been done on possible racial bias in how they handle cases, although a recently-adopted information system could be used in future studies.

When David Cahill became Windsor County State’s Attorney last January he took a system usually used for the most serious crimes, like murders, and applied it to other cases.

Cahill says he makes decisions about whether to bring charges against someone without looking at information about the person’s race or even gender.

When considering plea bargains or sentencing recommendations, Cahill says he takes steps to make sure his recommendations aren’t outside of the norm.

“Recognizing that everyone has some implicit bias, the key is to take steps and mitigate it,” says Cahill.

Cahill, who until recently was head of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, says he’s not sure of the approach taken by other state’s attorney’s.

And there aren’t any guidelines. Cahill says one goal of a recently-created best practices committee is to establish guidelines.

“The potential for unjust outcomes exists. I can’t point to any single case, but I can tell you theoretically that that potential exists and it probably does in actuality,” he says.

Cahill says there may be other ways to  look at the high percentage of African Americans in Vermont prisons.

Because of the movement of drugs from inner-city urban areas into Vermont, the prison population is made up partly of people from out of state. So it could reflect places with a very different racial makeup than Vermont’s.

“And the reality is that all of the urban areas to our south are much more diverse than Vermont. When folks from those cities bring heroin with them, they are bringing some of the cultural, ethnic and racial makeup of their area with them,” he says.

According to the Vermont-based Crime Research Group, data on race and residency of Vermont’s prison population is not readily available.

In 2015, the Crime Research Group issued a study called Race and Sentencing in Vermont, which looked strictly at prison sentences for a variety of misdemeanor convictions.

“This study found no evidence of systematic racial bias in sentencing,” says Brian Grearson, the court system’s Chief Superior Judge. Grearson oversees the administration and assignment of the Superior Court trial judges.

The study didn’t attempt to answer why Vermont has a significant racial disparity in incarceration rates.

“You’ve still got to ask the question, why are the numbers the way they are? That’s the question that has to be answered,” Grearson says.

Traffic stop data point to bias in law enforcement as a factor, but we don’t have data on many other aspects of the criminal justice system.

“How do we get at those areas in the criminal justice system where that discretionary authority exists, in the same way we’ve taken a look at law enforcement officers,” says Mark Hughes of Justice For All.

“How do we take a look at that in those other decision making points to be able to measure it so we can manage it moving forward.”

Hughes says collecting data, creating policies and providing training to everyone in the criminal justice system is part of the answer.

Hughes and others also point to larger issues that underlie bias and need to be addressed, including cultural and historical attitudes about race and sharp racial inequities in economic and educational opportunities.

Video of Fatal Shooting Released    

Source: Video Shows Chicago Police Firing at Car as It Drives Away

Video released Friday shows Chicago police firing repeatedly at a stolen car as it careens down the street away from them, then handcuffing the mortally wounded black teenager who was at the wheel after a chaotic foot chase through a residential neighborhood.

None of the footage from last month shows the suspected car thief getting shot in the back. Moments later, Paul O’Neal can be seen lying face-down on the ground, blood soaking through his T-shirt.

An officer is heard angrily accusing him of firing at police. Another officer asks, “They shot at us too, right?” suggesting police believed they had been fired upon and that they did not know how many suspects were present.

No gun was recovered from the scene.

Attorney Michael Oppenheimer, who represents O’Neal’s family, said the video showed officers taking “street justice into their own hands.”

In all, nine videos were released from both body cameras and at least one dashboard camera. It was the city’s first release of video of a fatal police shooting under a new policy that calls for such material to be made public within 60 days. That and other policy changes represent an effort to restore public confidence in the department after video released last year showed a black teenager named Laquan McDonald getting shot 16 times by a white officer. That video sparked protests and led to the ouster of the former police superintendent.

On the latest videos, an officer can be heard explaining that the suspect “almost hit my partner. I (expletive) shot at him.” Another officer who apparently fired his weapon laments that he was going to be on “desk duty for 30 (expletive) days now.”

The recording catches the stolen car being pursued by officers as it blows through a stop sign. Before the gunfire breaks out, the 18-year-old suspect sideswipes one squad car. As the officers open fire, he smashes into another.

Soon after the July 28 shooting, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stripped three of the officers of their police powers after a preliminary investigation concluded they had violated department policy. On Friday, he promised that if officers acted improperly they would “be held accountable for their actions.”

Authorities have not said specifically what policy the officers broke.

In February 2015, former Superintendent Garry McCarthy revised the department’s policy on the use of deadly force to prohibit officers from “firing at or into a moving vehicle when the vehicle is the only force used against the sworn member or another person.”

But the policy also says that officers “will not unreasonably endanger themselves or another person to conform to the restrictions of this directive,” meaning they have the right to defend themselves if they or someone else are in imminent danger of being struck.

The head of the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that investigates Chicago police misconduct, called the footage “shocking and disturbing.” She did not elaborate.

The officer who killed O’Neal said that he believed O’Neal had fired at him. “I discharged three to five rounds, maybe,” he told a supervisor. “I heard gunshots coming at us.”

The moment of the shooting was not recorded because the officer’s body camera was not operating at the time, police said.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the officer’s body camera could have been deactivated when the stolen Jaguar slammed into his squad car and set off the air bags. He also pointed out that the body camera suddenly starts working after the shooting — an indication that the officer, believing the incident was over, thought he was turning the camera off when he was actually turning it on.

“We don’t believe there was any intentional misconduct with body cameras,” he said.

Oppenheimer alleged that the non-operating body camera was part of a police effort to cover-up what he called a “cold-blooded murder.”

Officers seemed keenly aware that they were wearing body cameras and that those cameras were recording all of their comments. At one point, an officer can be seen telling others that he did not know who was firing. Then another officer came up and said, ‘Hey,’ perhaps a quiet reminder about the cameras. Whatever the intent, the officers immediately stopped talking.

Oppenheimer said O’Neal’s family viewed the video Friday and were so distraught that they left without speaking to the media.

During the pursuit, more than a half-dozen officers race between houses into backyards in a desperate search for the person who fled from the car. One officer needs help scaling a wooden gate. Another officer is unable to climb over and walks around to the rear of another home where the suspect is on the ground.

One officer can be heard saying, “I shot. I don’t know who was shooting in the alley.”

The president of the Chicago police union complained about the release of the videos, saying it was unfair to the officers, could turn public opinion against them and even jeopardize their own safety.

“These guys live in the neighborhoods. Their kids go to school, and their photos will be all over the internet,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they did anything wrong, but someone may see it and perceive the officers should not have taken the actions they did.”

———

This story has been corrected to reflect that the attorney’s name is spelled Oppenheimer, not Oppenheimerk.

We Call For Racial Justice Reform And The  Removal Of All Reference To Slavery From The Vermont Constitution

The racial climate in The United states continues to deteriorate with shootings of African Americans by law enforcement and even murders of law enforcement officers!   Vermont is not immune to the unprecedented racial justice tensions that we are experiencing in the United States.  Vermont ranks highest the nation at a rate of 1 in 14 African American males in State Prison  (Ashley Nellis of the Sentencing project).  Racial disparities in police traffic stops made by Burlington, South Burlington, Colchester, UVM and State police have increased over the last number of years (McDevett, Northestern University and Seguino, UVM).  Something has to be done here at home to raise the awareness of this crisis.  This is the time to advance dialogue and take action on racial disparities in Vermont

Partnering with Black Lives Matter Vermont, Justice For All has launched a Racial Justice Reform Campaign.  Together we have created a petition with an action plan to improve the racial justice climate in Vermont.  The partnership will also offer film viewings, candidate reviews (panel addressing racial justice) and action meetings (community action planning) in counties across the state.  They will also release public television series that will provide an ongoing discussion and updates on racial disparities in Vermont.

We have called for a Constitutional Amendment that eliminates all reference to slavery from the Vermont State Constitution.

“…no person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after arriving to the age of twenty-one years, unless bound by the person’s own consent, after arriving to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like…”

Constitution of the State of Vermont, CHAPTER I. A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE STATE OF VERMONT, Article 1st. All persons born free; their natural rights; slavery prohibited.

We are also calling on legislators to provide appropriate funding to implement effective transparency into the criminal justice system.  Grants must also be funded to provide resources for racial justice organizations for research, training and education.

Racial disparities in Vermont touches additionally upon access to housing, educational institutions, access to healthcare, employment and various aspects of the political process. It is for this reason that we are asking that the Governor appoint a Racial Justice Oversight Board with the responsibility of administering a program that continuously assesses, reviews and addresses racial disparities in Vermont.

Black Lives Matter Vermont and Justice For All are conducting a fundraiser to offset the time and expenses associated with the Racial Justice Reform Campaign.  We need your support.  Please help us at this critical time with this very important work.  We will keep you updated on our progress by sharing with you our major milestones

Here is the petition.

Please donate here. 

Thanks!

Source: Fundraiser · Help With A Constitutional Amendment To Remove Slavery From the Vermont Constitution · Change.org

We Need Police Oversight. Period.

Constitution of The State of Vermont

CHAPTER I.
A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INHABITANTS
OF THE STATE OF VERMONT

Article 5. [Internal police]

That the people of this state by their legal representatives, have the sole, inherent, and exclusive right of governing and regulating the internal police of the same.

 

The Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger

Currently decertification can happen only under narrow circumstances, leaving open the possibility that problem officers can hop between departments. But how to remedy that is the subject of debate.

After accusations surfaced that two Rutland City police officers had committed acts of serious misconduct while on the job, an internal investigation found they had engaged in racial profiling. The city paid a $975,000 settlement in a related civil lawsuit, and both officers have left the Rutland force.

But the officers were not at risk of losing their police certification in Vermont. Decertification can happen only under narrow circumstances, leaving open the possibility that problem officers can hop between departments.

Civil rights advocates, lawmakers and many public safety professionals agree the current system for disciplining and decertifying law enforcement officers in Vermont is insufficient. What a new system should look like, however, draws less agreement.

Some are concerned that a new process might impinge on officers’ right to due process. Some see a need for greater consistency across the state’s patchwork of law enforcement agencies. Others say the process needs much more sunlight and civilian input.

Now, an eight-member committee, directed by the Legislature to meet over the summer, is working toward reconciling the different perspectives.

Under the current system, the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council decertifies officers for two primary reasons: if the officer has been convicted of a felony, or if the officer is out of compliance with training requirements. The council can also revoke a certification if it was issued as a result of fraud or in error.

According to the council’s website, six Vermont police officers have been decertified for felony convictions and four for training issues since June 2013. Another was suspended while in training.
Richard Gauthier

Richard Gauthier, left, is executive director of the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council. Next to him is Brandon Police Chief Christopher Brickell, the council chair. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger

Richard Gauthier, executive director of the training council, said this week that the current process is not sufficient. Even in cases of clear professional misconduct, the council often does not have authority to decertify officers so they cannot work for other agencies.

Lawmakers on the Senate Government Operations Committee worked on establishing a new system for decertification during the 2016 session, but the bill collapsed before a vote. Ultimately the Legislature passed a bill that included the creation of an eight-member committee to make recommendations on certification and discipline ahead of the next legislative session.

Gauthier is part of the summer committee, which also includes representatives from four police associations, a law enforcement member of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, and representatives from the Department of Public Safety and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.

Gauthier said there has been discussion of a statewide decertification process for decades. He welcomes development of a broader statewide oversight policy.

“We’re starting to approach the level of accountability that nurses and teachers and everybody else has in the state,” Gauthier said.

Kelly Price, a game warden with the Department of Fish and Wildlife who is representing the VSEA on the committee, followed the discussions closely during the legislative session.

“There’s no disagreement that we do need to come up with something that holds officers accountable,” Price said.

But Price is wary of expanding the authority of the training council to overturn results of internal department investigations.

“The concern is that it could be abused,” Price said.

In legislative discussions about establishing a decertification process earlier this year, concerns were raised about how the policy would apply to the Vermont State Police.

Under statute, internal affairs issues within the statewide police force go before the State Police Advisory Commission. There were some concerns that state troopers would not be subject to the same oversight and scrutiny as the rest of the state’s law enforcement officers, according to Price.

Maj. Bill Sheets of the Vermont State Police, who is also vice chair of the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, said the State Police is behind the effort to establish clearer internal affairs policies and to make the system of accountability and decertification more robust.

“We support anything that can improve our profession,” Sheets said.

Sheets said he believes the State Police Advisory Commission needs to be referenced in the bill because it is already in statute. He expects the decertification policy under the training council would complement the advisory commission, as it would the internal affairs policies of any other law enforcement agency in Vermont.
Allen Gilbert

Allen Gilbert, retiring executive director of ACLU-Vermont. File photo by Elizabeth Hewitt/VTDigger

Allen Gilbert, the soon-to-retire executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, said oversight of police has been an important issue in the state for more than 200 years: It is the subject of Article 5 of the Vermont Constitution.

Gilbert has been monitoring shortfalls in the state’s police oversight system for a decade.

“It’s not just about disciplining an officer who engages in unprofessional conduct,” Gilbert said. “It’s all about having a system that the public trusts to keep officers the professionals they all want to be.”

The ACLU would favor a police licensing system similar to that in place for many other professions including the medical and legal fields, according to Gilbert. He emphasized the importance of including citizens who are not affiliated with police in the oversight process.

With a licensing system, Gilbert said, the state would “get the independent oversight that creates better professionalism and gives a sense to the public that they can trust the oversight.”

Mark Hughes, of the racial justice group Justice for All, has attended the committee meetings on decertification so far.

Hughes said he sees a fundamental flaw. He believes oversight must be by an independent civilian group, rather than by law enforcement.

“I think that no matter what comes out of this, it’s not going to be enough, because if you start off in the wrong place you’re never going to get to where you have to go,” he said.

Hughes said establishing civilian oversight of police departments is an increasingly popular recommendation for bolstering transparency and trust between law enforcement and the public. It is one of the recommendations from the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, he said.

“It’s imperative that we as civilians understand what’s going on inside of these agencies where these folks have been charged to serve and protect us,” Hughes said. “It is necessary that (police officers) be held to a higher standard because of their roles and responsibilities.”

Brandon Police Chief Chris Brickell, who chairs the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, said Tuesday that “clearly something has to be done” to expand the decertification process because the current system is too limited.

As a municipal chief, Brickell hopes the committee will be able to resolve the issues to implement a new policy. He defended the role of the training council in oversight of officer conduct and said it includes two positions for civilians who are involved with decertification decisions.

“It’s not like just police are looking at this issue, but we are the ones that really best understand the profession,” Brickell said.

Brickell also said the council is transparent about the process, holding open meetings and posting decertification decisions online. Gauthier said the potential exists to add more members of the public to the council as part of the effort to expand the oversight process.

Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, a member of the Senate Government Operations Committee, said the committee decided to postpone action on any legislation earlier this year in order to allow the major players involved with the discussion more time to reconcile their differences.

“I’m interested in making sure that law enforcement interacts with the public and itself in a consistent manner,” Benning said.

Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, who chairs Government Operations, said her committee opted to wait until the various representatives of different facets of Vermont’s law enforcement agencies could iron out some of the issues.

“Everybody’s going to have to agree on what the recommendations are,” White said.

She sees a need to look at the oversight and disciplinary policies in place at a statewide level.

“We take hairdressers’ licenses away from them,” White said. “Why would we not consider doing the same thing for law enforcement?”

Source: Committee mulls process for police officer decertification | VTDigger

On the #BlackLivesMatter Question | ACS

by Gregg Ivers, Professor of Government, American University @Givers1023

For much of white America, the phrase Black Lives Matter elicits thoughts of confusion, anger and resentment. Confusion, anger and resentment over the perception that the phrase, Black Lives Matter, somehow suggests that Black Lives Matter more than All Other Lives – meaning White Lives. All Lives Matter, so goes the rebuttal of some white folks, and Black Lives do not Matter any more or less than the lives of any other American citizen. Another demand for special treatment. Another demand that black folks get their own house in order rather than drawing attention to police brutality directed against unarmed black men, much of which, after we “place things in context,” somehow, after “careful review,” is almost always “justified.”

Among the many problems with this line of reasoning, there is one that stands out:

White America, you’re right . . . Black Lives have always Mattered. For almost four centuries, Black Lives have Mattered a great, great deal to white Americans. We would be a very different country without them. But just not in the way you would like to acknowledge.

Black Lives Mattered so much to the British that colonized North America that they brought their first black slaves to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, just a dozen years after they arrived. By 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, there were approximately 4 million African slaves in the United States. Black Lives Mattered when white America needed black men to do the brute physical work one would associate with animals and later machines. Black Lives Mattered so much to Southern planters that, after tobacco reached its peak as a cash crop in the Upper South, about a million slaves were sold to the owners of cotton plantations in the Deep South, and forced to migrate to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hell that awaited them was even more unimaginable than it had been in the tobacco producing states. The Lives of Black Women Mattered even more than black men. Black women gave birth to even more slaves, whether they wanted to or not, and functioned as sexual slaves to white men who, for reasons that only Sigmund Freud might understand, degraded their existence and yet had no problem raping and pillaging them as they pleased. A young male black slave was valued for the physical labor he could provide and nothing more. A young female black slave, especially a pretty one, was doomed to an existence that no civilized person would want to think about. And so we didn’t.

After the Civil War, Black Lives Mattered so much that the South, after the federal government reached an agreement with the Southern states to abandon Reconstruction and return the region to white rule, reinstituted a system of Neo-Slavery called Jim Crow. So valuable was the labor of black men and women that Southern planters, industrialists, politicians, law enforcement and para-military terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan conspired to create a system of peonage and convict labor to dredge the swamps, pick the cotton, split the sugar cane, take care of the children, cook and clean for white folks, make the turpentine, crack the rocks, build the roads to take them to the glorious buildings that neo-slave labor largely built that rose up by the early 20th century and do anything else respectable white people believed was beneath them – and at the lowest possible cost. This system, in which blacks had no say, did not fall apart until the 1960s.

Black Lives Mattered in other ways, too. By the early 20th century, the art and music that emerged from black communities throughout the Southern United States expressing everything from despair to hope to joy to redemption soon became so popular among white Americans that record companies figured out a way to profit from it without really having to pay the artists that created it. Black music became the first genuinely indigenous form of American music, providing the foundation for the blues, jazz, gospel, the popular song, rhythm and blues and rock and roll and changed the way that music was understood and appreciated throughout the world. Yes, indeed, Black Lives Mattered to record and entertainment executives a great deal.

Black Lives soon began to Matter to lovers of collegiate and professional sports, so much so that, beginning in the late 1940s, the white guardians of professional baseball agreed to let one black man play with 149 other white men. Over the next several decades, black men rose to prominence in baseball, soon dominated football and, of course, almost completely took over the court in basketball. By the early 1960s, Black Lives Mattered so much to the NCAA that it began to permit black athletes to play football and basketball, the two highest revenue producing sports in collegiate athletics, with white athletes. The same Southern schools that took such great pride in preventing academically qualified black men and women from attending their whites-only universities decided that they were not going to tolerate a losing sports program, especially football. It became high time, as the phrase then went, “to get some niggers of our own.” There wasn’t a whole of lot of concern about actually providing these athletes with a proper college education – and there still isn’t. But allowing black athletes into historically whites-only institutions of higher education fattened the wallets of a great many people and continues to do so. By any measure, Blacks Lives Matter a great deal to our collegiate and professional sports complexes.

Although it may not seem like it, Blacks Lives have always Mattered in politics, especially in the South. That is why, until 1965, when the moral force of the civil rights movement forced the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Southern states did not let black people vote. In states like South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, that would have doomed white supremacy because of the large – and in the case of South Carolina and Mississippi – majority black populations. So the powers-that-were either threatened, arrested, intimidated, raped and sometimes killed black men and women who registered to vote until the federal government made them stop. Of course, Black Lives Mattered in the Old South. Especially when it came to how white people could acquire and exercise political power.

Black Lives still Matter in politics, which is why the modern Republican Party has spent so much time and effort attempting to disenfranchise black voters, especially black men. Photo ID laws to combat a “voter fraud” problem that doesn’t exist. Making registration more and more complicated. Spurious messaging that preys on poor, semi-literate rural black voters by announcing false election times, closing traditional voting centers or anything else that will suppress the black vote. Yes, Black Lives Matter to the Republican Party, which is the reason it doesn’t want blacks to vote. Let’s take a moment to remember that blacks have only been second-class citizens for 51 years. Before then, they were subjects. When you cannot vote, you are not a citizen. Period.

Black Lives Matter to the “get tough on crime crowd” in Congress and state legislatures, and our penal system at all levels. The United States has created a mindless system of mass incarceration, taking black men and placing them and their most productive years behind bars. Mass incarceration also means that black men are politically the most impotent voting bloc in the country. Approximately one-third of black men are under the supervision of the criminal justice system, making them largely ineligible to vote. One-third. Combine the fact that voting eligible citizens are far less likely to vote when they feel the system does not serve them, and you magnify the problem to even higher degree. So not only does mass incarceration disproportionately destroy the lives of black men and black families, its sabotages the ability of black men to influence a political system that has demeaned and brutalized them – and for longer – like no other subset of American people. To our criminal justice system, yes, Black Lives Matter. A lot.

There are many more examples of how Black Lives have Mattered over the course of American history. But how Blacks Lives have Mattered to white America is very different than how black Americans believe that Black Lives Matter. And, if you listen very carefully, white America, you will hear that is what this movement is about. Black people want to show white America what it’s like to be black from their side of the camera. Black people want white people to see what happens to young, unarmed black men like Alton Sterling, Philando Castille, Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. Black people really want to know – and are willing to listen – why some white people really think George Zimmerman was justified in murdering Trayvon Martin. Black people really want to know if you think Philando Castille would have been killed in front of his family if he was white. Black people want to know why some white people believe that if I teach three black students in a class of 30 rather than just one or two that will somehow threaten your child’s ability to attend college and build a life. Black people really want to know why some white people are so afraid of them that, eight years ago, they invented a right that did not exist for the previous 209 years under the Constitution to own guns designed to do nothing more to kill other people, including school children, and, ironically, pierce the vests that police officers wear to protect themselves from you. Because you do know that white people are far more likely to kill a police officer than a black person? Right?

Black Lives Matter is not something to fear. Black Lives Matter is not an indictment of every single non-black person in the United States. Black Lives Matter is not demanding a revolution through armed force. Black Lives Matter is mad – this is not the Civil Rights Movement of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis – and wants white America to know why. Black Lives Matter is asking you to realize that even white people of goodwill continue to benefit from a system that white people created and have maintained for almost 400 years.

Black Lives Matter wants white people to know that Black Lives Matter just as much as White Lives Matter. And when that happens – when Black and White Lives Matter equally, then we will have reached the point where All Lives Matter. Until then, keep expecting to hear, whether white folks like it or not, why Black Lives Matter.

And don’t be afraid. Just listen.

Source: On the #BlackLivesMatter Question | ACS