police reform

On May 21, Selwyn Jones appeared at a Massachusetts State House press conference and rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the May 25, 2020 murder of his nephew, George Floyd. He hasn’t stopped fighting for justice since that dark day.

In the fields of politics and public policy, Boston’s communities of color made historic gains in 2022, with former City Councilor Andrea Campbell’s elevation to attorney general, Michelle Wu’s first full year as mayor and, for the first few months, a majority of people of color on the City Council.

It took the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 to jump-start Boston’s police reform efforts.

Nearly a year after former Mayor Martin Walsh created a transparency office to address systemic police misconduct, Mayor Michelle Wu has made her final appointments to the two oversight panels designed during the reform process.

There have been countless reports, recommendations, rule changes, investigations, civilian checks and balances on the LAPD, and Black Live Matters protests. It’s as if none of these things ever happened or meant little-to-nothing. The LAPD’s wanton, reckless, outrageous slaying of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana Peralta is grim testimony to that.

Blacks should expect the battle for police reform to continue across the country.

Little has changed in policing in the year since the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

Of the six lead candidates running for mayor, none backs a fully elected school committee, only one supports rent control.

Police unions have been wildly successful in watering down, if not outright killing, many police reform measures in state legislatures, even in the most liberal, Democratic-controlled states.

Cops are sending a deadly message that Chauvin will in no way change things. Their message: Police will continue to police in mostly minority communities the same way, up to and including the use of force.

Police overtime has increased despite there being fewer court sessions, fewer public festivals and parades and other traditional drivers of overtime. City councilors who are trying to find answers for why the police budget continues to rise have found few answers.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin got his day in court. He was able to put on a plausible defense that George’s Floyd’s death did not come at his hands (or knee) but because of Floyd’s prior severe medical conditions.