1. Police Reform
We have heard defund the police, get rid of no-knock warrants, implement diversity training and a number of other solutions to change the status quo when it comes to how police operate in this country. Since the death of George Floyd, there has actually been some traction with police reform. Like everything else, we still have a long way to go but here are a few of the changes below.
Since we are still waiting on Breonna Taylor’s murderers to be charged, we can at least say that Louisville, Kentucky’s Metro Council unanimously voted on June 11 to ban “no-knock” search warrants. The Minneapolis City Council voted on June 26 to replace the city’s police department with a community-based public safety model. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on June 12 banning chokeholds and repealing a decades-old law that sealed records of alleged officer misconduct from the public.
There are other states and cities following suit with some of these measure and they are going beyond these measures as well. Some states are banning the use of tear gas while others are implementing penalties for not turning on body cameras. Again, there is a lot more to do but for now, this is a start.