New Haven, CT — Yesterday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) announced that his attempts to reach a compromise on reform legislation with his Republican counterparts had failed. This means that, barely a year removed from the largest protest for racial justice in U.S. history, Congress will not heed the call from an overwhelming majority of people in the United States to reconsider the role of police in society.
As our co-founder and CEO, Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, wrote recently in The New York Times: “Legislative inaction has become as much of an American tradition as the cycles of racial violence and protest that precede it.” But that inaction must not preclude progress. Much of the work needed to reimagine public safety can be done, and is being done, on the local level. Black communities, and all those who continue to bear the brunt of police violence, cannot afford to wait.
Legislation such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act should be law. CPE will continue to support those members of Congress working toward national solutions. In the meantime, we stand with the local organizers, elected officials, change-minded law enforcement leaders, and others coming together in good faith across the country to create new blueprints for keeping their communities safe.