To: President Donald Trump
Justice for #WalterScott
Tell President Obama to issue an executive order to expand and enforce police accountability nationwide!
Why is this important?
It was one of the worst videos of police murder we have ever seen.[1] South Carolina police officer Michael Slager viciously killed 50-year-old Walter Scott by fatally shooting him eight times in the back. In a harrowing video, Officer Slager is also seen possibly planting evidence at the crime scene and violently handcuffing Mr. Scott as he lay dying. Officer Slager has been charged with first-degree murder.
This is a good first step. But it’s only one step. No mother should have to fear that a loved one could face harm at the hands of those charged with protection. Join us in urging President Obama to sign an executive order enforcing and expanding bans on racial bias in policing.
Sign on to MomsRising's petition and our message below, which we'll deliver to the White House.
_________________________________________
Dear President Obama,
A mother should never have to fear that her children could be killed or harmed at the hands of those sworn to protect them. But study after study is showing this happens every day. The national crisis of racially motivated and discriminatory policing requires your executive action.
According to FBI statistics, law enforcement officers kill African Americans approximately every 3 days, and other estimates put this deadly number at almost every day. Studies show that in addition to causing deaths at disproportionate and inhumane rates, there is a pattern of unjust stops, abuse, and arrests of black and brown people in our nation. Every day, families are torn apart, children are robbed of their futures, and our democracy is weakened.
We cannot afford to wait any longer for the concrete, structural reforms needed to keep communities safe. And the unacceptable non-indictment of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson highlights deep-seated, structural problems with the enforcement of civil rights protections that require your immediate intervention.
I strongly urge you to issue an executive order enforcing and expanding federal bans on discriminatory policing, strengthening systems of police discipline, ordering the immediate collection of nationwide data on police use of force, ending federal anti-drug grants and the Defense Department's 1033 program, and massively re-investing in community controlled policing. Anything less is unacceptable.
There are enough federal civil rights laws on the books to hold police officers and departments fully accountable when they discriminate, injure or kill civilians. But we need your leadership to ensure that they are enforced. A number of federal policies, such as the 1033 program, are responsible for creating these intolerable conditions of abuse and police brutality and must be terminated.
Unless definitive action is taken to end these destructive polices and enforce federal civil rights law, our nation will continue to have an unequal, deadly, broken system of justice and policing that violate human rights and cannot be trusted by all.
I hope you treat this matter with the utmost seriousness and do everything in your power to end the policies and practices that fuel militarized, abusive policing. Your latest initiatives are important steps in the right direction, Mr. President, but we need more. We need an executive order.
[1] "South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder of Walter Scott," NYTimes 04-07-2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html
This is a good first step. But it’s only one step. No mother should have to fear that a loved one could face harm at the hands of those charged with protection. Join us in urging President Obama to sign an executive order enforcing and expanding bans on racial bias in policing.
Sign on to MomsRising's petition and our message below, which we'll deliver to the White House.
_________________________________________
Dear President Obama,
A mother should never have to fear that her children could be killed or harmed at the hands of those sworn to protect them. But study after study is showing this happens every day. The national crisis of racially motivated and discriminatory policing requires your executive action.
According to FBI statistics, law enforcement officers kill African Americans approximately every 3 days, and other estimates put this deadly number at almost every day. Studies show that in addition to causing deaths at disproportionate and inhumane rates, there is a pattern of unjust stops, abuse, and arrests of black and brown people in our nation. Every day, families are torn apart, children are robbed of their futures, and our democracy is weakened.
We cannot afford to wait any longer for the concrete, structural reforms needed to keep communities safe. And the unacceptable non-indictment of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson highlights deep-seated, structural problems with the enforcement of civil rights protections that require your immediate intervention.
I strongly urge you to issue an executive order enforcing and expanding federal bans on discriminatory policing, strengthening systems of police discipline, ordering the immediate collection of nationwide data on police use of force, ending federal anti-drug grants and the Defense Department's 1033 program, and massively re-investing in community controlled policing. Anything less is unacceptable.
There are enough federal civil rights laws on the books to hold police officers and departments fully accountable when they discriminate, injure or kill civilians. But we need your leadership to ensure that they are enforced. A number of federal policies, such as the 1033 program, are responsible for creating these intolerable conditions of abuse and police brutality and must be terminated.
Unless definitive action is taken to end these destructive polices and enforce federal civil rights law, our nation will continue to have an unequal, deadly, broken system of justice and policing that violate human rights and cannot be trusted by all.
I hope you treat this matter with the utmost seriousness and do everything in your power to end the policies and practices that fuel militarized, abusive policing. Your latest initiatives are important steps in the right direction, Mr. President, but we need more. We need an executive order.
[1] "South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder of Walter Scott," NYTimes 04-07-2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html