CNN reports on the nation’s progress toward preventing the killings of unarmed Black people a decade after Mike Brown’s murder “brought the issue of police use of force against unarmed Black Americans to the forefront of US policy and politics.” In short, progress to reduce and eliminate police excessive use of force has been frustratingly slow, and the families’ of those killed at the hands of the police often feel overlooked. In an interview for CNN’s reporting, Dr. Phillip Atiba Solomon, CPE CEO and Co-Founder, discusses the challenges to truly addressing the issue of police killings and systemic racism:
Solomon co-founded the Center for Policing Equity, which uses data and science to try to find a way to make policing in America “less racist and less deadly,” according to the organization’s website.
But the weight of each person killed by police lands like a boulder, Solomon said. And making progress, he said, is like trying to tip the scale using only feathers – especially as the political will to pass legislation like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has dwindled over the years.
“As a nation, we’re not built for a long-term project of undoing the racism, not just in policing but in all the systems that end up in policing,” he said.
“I don’t see a point in my lifetime where there won’t be boulders,” he added. “I think what we can do is we can pay real close attention to the feathers.”
Read the full article on CNN’s website.