Thread by @MrErnestOwens

THIS JUST IN: My latest for @RollingStone on #AmirLocke and how right now, continuing the failed efforts to “fix” policing in America feels insane, what’s needed is radical and systemic change.
rollingstone.com/culture/cultur…

Writing & researching on the failures of police reform has changed my entire perspective on it. In order to believe in police reform, you have to trust the police.

You literally have to believe they want to change, reflect, and do better.

Everything they've done say otherwise.

At this point, I now see police reform as a huge grift that is all about trying to control the public's rightful rage against the police state -- and tamper down any imagination for something better and more accountable.

I say grift because at this point -- politicians, police unions, police reform organizations are literally in bed with each other profiting off of giving people a fake belief that change is coming.

It's not with them. They aren't going to fix a damn thing.

The look and feel of change gets compromised everytime these parties get involved.

Policies/laws get watered down -- and then there are no strong consequences for those who violate.

Sure, a couple bad apples get fired -- but the whole tree was rotten from the start.

The situation in Minneapolis right now is a textbook example of why police reform is a sham. We have now seen in real-time how all of this is nothing but broken promises, lies, and the same trauma-pimping we've gotten familiar with each time. Seriously, let's break this down.

Step 1: The police tragically kill someone in a manner that sparks instant public outcry and protest.

Amir Locke's death is currently that tragedy happening in Minneapolis right now.

Step 2: City officials then claim they will look into the matter, which leads to them bringing outside reformers into the mix. (Cue the “spoke with civil rights leaders” PR plug.)

Mayor Jacob Frey has called in Campaign Zero's DeRay Mckesson to help advise on no-knock policy.

Step 3: This inspires a policy proposal that eventually gets watered down due to politics.

For example, the original "Breonna's Law" in Kentucky called for a ban on ALL no-knocks, but then it got changed to restricts, not bans, the use of no-knock warrants in certain situations.

Step 4: This weakening unfortunately helps the bill get approved and implemented so that reformists, politicians, and their ilk can call it a victory.

DeRay Mckesson and others have since taken credit for the "success" of having Breonna's Law passed in Kentucky.

Step 5: That is, until the loophole built into the toothless policy gets taken advantage of by the police — causing this cycle to repeat itself yet again.

For example, DeRay is back in Minneapolis again because Mayor Jacob Frey lied to the people about banning no-knocks.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is bringing in a police reformist such as DeRay Mckesson, who has no respectable ties to local activists on the ground, to attempt to solve a no-knock policy that isn't going to actually address the root of the issue.

Read the room.

Seriously, people reform organizations like Campaign Zero, that's currently being led by DeRay, are respectable cushions for politicians like Minneapolis Jacob Frey to use as a talking point to claim he's "seriously looking into these issues."

Bullshit. He's buying time.

I used to wonder how do groups and individuals like Campaign Zero and DeRay justify being tokenized in this way.

Then I see how much money and visibility they are getting paid to do this "work" and then it clicks.

They are invested in perpetuating the problem to stay employed.

Police reform allows for organizations, leaders, and police to stay in business.

Police fuck up, politicians speak out, reformists create action plans, and the cycle continues.

Who is actually losing? The community, the people.

For example, with Breonna's Law, the gig was already up when I saw that Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was a Democrat that was backed by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) -- the biggest police union in America.

A police-union backed politician will never be aggressive on reform.

To be clear, it took me many years to see and recognize this in my own city (Philly). I'm 30, so it's not been that long -- but once you see this, it's hard not to unsee how such connections lead to non-action on shit.

In 2019, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he was “grateful to have the trust and support of Kentucky’s Fraternal Order of Police," when they backed him for governor.

NOTE: The FOP has backed Trump both times for his "law and order" stances on criminal justice reform.

So please understand why activists take issue with the same people who pushed Breonna's Law in Kentucky -- such as DeRay being involved with this in Minneapolis.

In this recent interview, he's already applying the same reformist strategy that's failed.
mprnews.org/story/2022/02/…