It took four years and a jury trial for Amara Harris to beat the ticket that accused her of stealing another girl’s AirPods. Now she’s heading back to court in the hope of stopping schools from using police to discipline students. Illinois law bans schools from fining students. But police routinely issue tickets to children for minor misbehavior at school, burdening families with financial penalties.
Last Saturday, a San Bernardino sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Ryan Gainer, an autistic Black 15-year-old, outside his home in Apple Valley, California. The shooting, which is under investigation, came after Gainer chased the deputy with a large bladed garden tool, according to police and body camera footage released by the department. The teen’s family had called 911 when he became upset during a disagreement, broke a glass door and struck a relative. They told CNN that by the time deputies arrived, Ryan had calmed down and apologized.
Most youth involved in the juvenile justice system between 2010 and 2019 in Harris County, Texas -- the nation's third-largest county -- a small fraction of youth with repeated run-ins with law enforcement accounted for the bulk of those who were in pre-trial detention, prosecuted, on probation or in post-conviction incarceration or some other restrictive placement, according to a recent Texas Policy Lab analysis.
The first time I had a weapon pointed at me, it was by a police officer. I was 8 years old.
The first time I was arrested, I was on my way to pick up video game controllers. Who knew it was then that I would feel like I never really had control of my life?
I remember it was a shotgun and a pistol both aimed at the vehicle I was in, and the police officers were yelling at me and my brothers to get out of the vehicle.
The police officers shouted to get out and get down on the ground, just like the video game Grand Theft Auto. My brother opened the door while telling my 12-year-old brother and me to not move or say anything. I heard three more cars quickly approach and park, surrounding our vehicle.
I looked to my brother for guidance and saw fear in his eyes while he put his hands up.
Growing up in San Jose, California, I had some amazing experiences with law enforcement that I can say likely made a huge difference in my path as a young adult. When I think back, in elementary school we had the Say No To Drugs campaign and McGruff the Crime Dog that led us into our middle school and high school years.
Youth sports was a huge part of our culture. Even if you were not an athlete, you supported a neighbor or friend that was. We had P.A.L. stadiums throughout Santa Clara County. These were operated by the Police Athletic League. We also had officers who volunteered or worked on campuses.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Black freedom fighters in Alabama once changed this country.
Speaking onstage in Kelly Ingram Park on Juneteenth, Celestine Hood, a woman who witnessed radical change during the Civil Rights Movement, said Alabamians had the power to do it again.
Hood was a child in this park in May 1963, one of the young students participating in a demonstration for racial equality when Police Chief Eugene “Bull” Connor ordered attack dogs and firehoses on protesters. Images of children enduring that brutality enraged the world, sparking international support for the movement.
In May of this year, a video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in custody for allegedly spending counterfeit money, shocked the world again. Protests erupted in big cities and rural towns, demanding an end to police and vigilante killings of Black people.
“We had dogs and firehoses,” Hood said. “You’ve got tear gas. You’ve got rubber bullets. It’s the same fight.”
The crowd of a few hundred — Black, brown and white, young and old —nodded, raised their fists.
JACKSONVILLE, Alabama — When Marcus Wood was a kid, he said, the neighborhood police hosted barbecues for his community, handing out sticker badges, teaching him and his friends to fish. “I grew up in what you would call the projects,” Wood said. “Those cops influenced my life in a very positive way.”
Today Wood, 34, is the first Black police chief in Jacksonville, a small university town. A native of Weaver, Alabama, he previously worked as an Army police officer, a National Guardsman, a corrections officer, a fugitive investigator and a trainer for the state’s police academy at his alma mater, Jacksonville State University.
This year, as Black Lives Matter protests assembled in cities around the world in the wake of Minnesota police killing George Floyd, an unarmed Black man suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill, protesters gathered for days in Jacksonville to discuss police brutality and racism in the justice system. At the time, in June, Wood told a local TV news station: “We appreciate [protesters] being a force for us, because we don’t want bad cops in law enforcement.” The comment came with the announcement of a citywide curfew.
SCHENECTADY, New York — After an arrest that thrust the Schenectady Police Department into the national spotlight due to another knee-to-head chokehold on a person of color, the front steps of City Hall became the backdrop for the two different responses that would follow. Schenectady NAACP President Odo Butler called for outrage to turn into policy shifts on July 11, standing next to Police Chief Eric Clifford. He was echoing a familiar sentiment in the small city of 65,000, separated from Manhattan by nearly three hours of suburban highway along the Hudson River. Clifford had already approved five preliminary police reforms days before.
Two days later, dozens of protesters from the activist group All of Us marched up those steps and blocked all entrances to City Hall. The group had its own 13 demands, garnered through community input.
I have been researching and teaching about crime and justice for more than 40 years. My work has focused on the importance of race and social class in understanding the issues that people face in these systems. Within this broad area of concern is the relationship between the police and communities of color, especially Black communities. The use and abuse of force has been a constant throughout the history of this relationship. This was on full display when a video was released of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Atrocities such as this one have been a regular occurrence in Black communities since there were organized police forces.
UPDATE: The original Instagram video was taken down. The updated video linked below is to a news story of the June 30, 2020, protest. Watch video below
NEW YORK — After a slew of new laws were passed in the last month aimed at reining in aggressive policing tactics, police unions in New York City are now instructing officers to wait for a supervisor or call in a specialized unit if someone is resisting arrest. In a July 1 newsletter sent to NYPD officers, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) instructed officers to wait, saying that officers' jobs have “changed radically over the past few weeks,” citing new laws. Frustrated by an apparent lack of guidance from the city on how officers should comply, the PBA is now demanding clear legal interpretations of how officers can comply with the new laws.
