“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” - James Baldwin
Friend,
Our oppression has reached its boiling point.
The uprisings we’re witnessing in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis,
New York, Oakland, Washington D.C. and many other cities across the
U.S. are a direct consequence of the racism, bigotry, violence, and
subjugation against Black people that has festered in this country for
far too long. The murder of George Floyd, and the subsequent lack of
accountability by the police, has set into motion what can only be
described as a moment of reckoning for our nation’s conscience.
How we become the land of the free depends largely on what happens next.
As we continue to advocate in memory of George Floyd, now is the time to
ask ourselves, what does justice look like? Yes, we want all the
officers involved to be immediately arrested, tried for murder, and
convicted. But justice for George Floyd also means bringing an end to
the criminalization of Black skin. It means holding police departments
accountable for their role in terrorizing our communities for years. It
must mean a complete and thorough policy reset so that no Black person
is ever put on trial for their own murder as we saw in the case of
Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and Michael Brown.
To ensure our survival as free Black people in this country two things
need to happen. First, what has now become clear to the world, is the
ongoing practice of police brutality, specifically against the Black
community, is not only a civil rights issue but also a human rights
issue. The NAACP is calling on the United Nations to step up and
classify the mistreatment of Black people in the U.S. by the police as a
human rights violation, aggressively call out the U.S. government in
the process, and impose sanctions if necessary.
Secondly, we need sweeping police reform–federal legislation
mandating a zero-tolerance approach in penalizing and/or prosecuting
police officers who kill unarmed, non-violent, and non-resisting
individuals in an arrest.
This federal legislation must include the following principles:
- A ban on the use of knee holds and choke holds as an acceptable practice for police officers.
- The Use of Force Continuum for any police department in the country must ensure that there are at least 6 levels of steps, with clear rules on escalation.
- Each State’s Open Records Act must ensure officer misconduct information and disciplinary histories are not shielded from the public.
- Recertification credentials may be denied for police officers if determined that their use of deadly force was unwarranted by federal guidelines.
- Implementation of Citizen’s Review Boards in municipalities to hold police departments accountable and build public confidence.
Take Action
Friend,
the anger and frustration we feel at this moment must be channeled into
working towards a better future for us and for future generations to
come. For too long we have marched, we have protested, and we have
mourned our lost ones as the world and our allies watched on.
It’s time to stop watching and take action.
In Solidarity,
Derrick Johnson
@DerrickNAACP
President and CEO
NAACP
It’s time to stop watching and take action.
In Solidarity,
Derrick Johnson
@DerrickNAACP
President and CEO
NAACP
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