In a public statement, Urban League proposes four areas of focus for police reform

Two days ago, I added my signature to the statement below addressing the string of protests and civil unrest that occurred across our nation this past weekend:

Our communities are overwhelmed with grief. We are heartsick over the inhumanity we have witnessed in the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. We are appalled by the callous response from the authorities who shrugged in the face of evil.

Cities across the nation have erupted in rage and despair. As civil rights leaders who are committed to racial justice, we share the protesters’ anguish, and the heartbreak of the communities where uprisings have turned violent.

There are those who are inciting violence and mayhem. And there are those engaged in peaceful protest. No one should assume they are the same people, and we refute any attempt to discredit or dismiss the just cause for which people are marching based on infiltrators bent on sabotage. We support the right of citizens to engage in peaceful protest. We condemn the use of excessive force to dispel demonstrations.

We are hearing what Martin Luther King, Jr., famously called “the language of the unheard.”  When George Floyd begged for his life as Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s throat, he was unheard. The onlookers pleading with Chauvin to stop were unheard.

The cries for justice have gone unheard long enough.

The long-overdue arrests of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers and one of the officers involved in George Floyd’s death are merely a first step in a long journey. The other officers involved in Floyd’s killing also must be held accountable.

The Urban League Movement has proposed specific recommendations for police reform and accountability. These include:

• the widespread use of body cameras and dashboard cameras
• revision of use-of-force policies
• officer training and hiring standards
• the immediate appointment of independent prosecutors to investigate police misconduct.

But even more than these measures, we need a revision of our culture. It’s a culture that teaches a white woman walking her dog in Central Park that racially-motivated police brutality is a weapon she can use to enforce her own preferred social code.

As we pursue these measures to reform the police in our communities, we call upon all community leaders, elected officials, corporate leaders and social institutions to join us in pursuing policies that promote racial reconciliation.

The Urban League Movement is comprised of the National Urban League and its 90 affiliates, serving 300 communities in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

Signatories:

• Marc H. Morial, National Urban League
• Gilbert Bland, Urban League of Hampton Roads
• N. Charles Anderson, Urban League of Detroit & Southeast Michigan
• Phyllis Nichols, Knoxville Area Urban League
• Germaine Smith-Baugh, Urban League of Broward County
• Esther Bush, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh
• Otha Meadows, Charleston Urban League
• Tiffany Majors, Greater Baltimore Urban League          
• Jennifer Lesko, Broome County Urban League
• Eddie L. Koen, Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio
• Cassandra Jennings, Greater Sacramento Urban League
• Warren Logan, Urban League of Greater Chattanooga
• Andrea Custis, Urban League of Philadelphia
• James T. McLawhorn, Columbia Urban League
• Parris Smith, Lorain County Urban League
• Ray King, Urban League of San Diego County
• George Dean, Greater Phoenix Urban League              
• Arva Rice, New York Urban League               
• Thomas Warren, Urban League of Nebraska
• Nancy Flake Johnson, Urban League of Greater Atlanta
• Michelle Merriweather, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
• James Perry, Winston-Salem Urban League
• Sorraya Sampson, Urban League of Westchester County
• P.G. Peeples, Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County
• Henry Thomas, Urban League of Springfield
• Muhammad Umar, Urban League of Hudson County
• Brenda McDuffie, Buffalo Urban League          
• Watson Haynes, Pinellas County Urban League
• William Barnes, Birmingham Urban League
• George Dean, Greater Phoenix Urban League
• Dr. Eve M. Hall, Milwaukee Urban League
• Ruben Anthony, Urban league of Greater Madison
• Judy Morse, Urban League of Louisiana
• Erin Houston, Shenango Valley Urban League  
• Glenton Gilzean, Central Florida Urban League
• Theodia Gillespie, Quad County Urban League
• Diane Stevens Robinson, Greater Stark County Urban League
• Teddy McDaniel, Urban League of Central Carolinas
• Teresa LeGrair, Akron Urban League
• Scott Hamilton, Arkansas Urban League
• Nina Harris, Springfield Urban League Inc.
• T’wina Nobles, Tacoma Urban League 
• Tonja Sesley-Baymon, Memphis Urban League
• George H. Lambert Jr., Greater Washington Urban League                   
• Steve Belton, Urban League of the Twin Cities            
• Sadiqa Reynolds, Louisville Urban League
• Valerie Thompson, Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City
• Marsha Mockabee, Urban League of Greater Cleveland
• Richard Dogan, Urban League of the Upstate    
• Vanessa Allen McCloud, Urban League of Northwest Indiana
• David Hopkins, Urban League of Greater Hartford
• Gwendolyn Grant, Urban League of Greater Kansas City
• Vivian Fraser, Urban League of Essex County  
• Karen Freeman-Wilson, Chicago Urban League
• Seanelle Hawkins, Urban League of Rochester, Inc.
• James Hall, Urban League of Racine and Kenosha
• Thomas Conley, Greater-Warren Youngstown Urban League
• Stephanie Hightower, Columbus Urban League            
• Laraine Bryson, Tri-County Urban League
• Clifton Harris, Urban League of Middle Tennessee
• Quincy Dunlap, Austin Area Urban League
• Beneta Burt, Mississippi Urban League
• James Hall, Urban League of Racine/Kenosha
• Vincent Bell, Urban League of Greater Columbus
• Michael Lawson, Los Angeles Urban League
• Michael McMillian, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Patrick Franklin, Urban League of West Palm Beach County
• Tony Mason, Indianapolis Urban League
• Richard Danford, Jacksonville Urban League
• Judson Robinson Houston Area Urban League
• Nina Harris Springfield Urban League
• Theresa Sanders, Urban League of Long Island