A decade of racial justice activism has changed politics, but breakthrough reforms remain elusive.

WASHINGTON (AP) — corybush I went from helping to leading. Unofficial movement for racial justice He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives for two terms, and his office was decorated with photos of families who had lost loved ones to police brutality. One is Michael Brown’s.

browns His death in Ferguson, Missouri, 10 years ago was a defining moment for him. american racial justice movement. The film shined a global spotlight on long-standing calls for reform of a system that exposes millions of people to everything from economic discrimination to murder.

Activists like Bush have run for and won seats in statehouses, city halls, prosecutors’ offices, and Congress because they proclaim that “black lives matter.” Local laws were passed to do all of the following: Demolition of prisons and prisons and school reform to exclude hair discrimination.

Since 2020, at least 30 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted laws aimed at curbing abusive behavior, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Racial justice activism over the past decade has transformed politics, but breakthrough reforms remain elusive, more than 30 activists, elected officials and political operatives told The Associated Press. Ta.

“When you look at the progress we’ve made, there are ups and downs,” said Bush, who was a longtime community organizer and pastor before becoming a Democrat. “We’re still dealing with military enforcement in our communities. We’re still dealing with police shootings.”

10 years of achievements

Issues of public safety and racial justice have surged to the center of American politics as a new generation of black activists with cell phones rewrites the national conversation about policing. Police body cameras are widespread. Tactics including chokeholds It has been outlawed.

Svante Myrick, who served as the youngest-ever mayor of Ithaca, New York, from 2011 to 2021 and later became president of the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way, owes his work to Ferguson. He said there has been a change in the way communities approach police reform and misconduct.

at least 150 reforms Passed locally or state-wise.

President Bush said, “Someone’s life was saved, there was a police officer present, there were encounters during the Ferguson uprising where a police officer might have made a different decision had it not been for 400 days of protests.” I know that.” “Perhaps the world was beginning to wake up to the fact that external strategy alone is not enough; you also need internal strategy.”

One example is Tishaura Jones. first black woman St. Louis has been working to eliminate the city’s “arrest and jail” police model and focus on social service programs that support high-crime neighborhoods.

A new generation of leaders is implementing that pattern across the country.

“I entered politics through the Black Lives Matter movement after years of witnessing the unjust killings of black and brown people,” said New York City Councilman Chi Ose, 26. .

After the killing of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, he used social media to organize protests. george floydin 2020, sparked a new wave of mass protests. “As a result, I now have a different type of leadership style within my community than previous council members who have represented this district.”

I have something to do

Lawmakers in Washington were initially alarmed by the Black Lives Matter movement.

In 2015, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told three Black Lives Matter activists that they should focus on changing laws instead of hearts. A 2016 memo issued by the Democratic House Campaign Office asked politicians to limit the number of Black Lives Matter activists at public events or meet with them privately.

Ferguson has entered a new phase. Perhaps for the first time, visible mass protests demanding justice for a single victim are not convened by clergy or centered on the church, but are born organically, and often Connected by mobile phone and supported by hip hop.

Brown’s death and the treatment of Black Lives Matter protesters also led many Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders to Based on internal calculations. Organizations and individuals of all ages were inspired to come off the sidelines.

“We had a benefit,” President Bush said. “I wanted to take this movement to the House of Commons, and I feel I have been able to do that.”

movement encounters national political change

By 2015, Ferguson activists were welcomed into the White House to work on Obama administration policies. Task Force for 21st Century Policing.

Donald Trump has embraced several criminal justice reforms, including: first step acthe continued to oppose racial justice activists throughout his administration. The movement was despised by the right. In 2016, the then-Republican presidential candidate called Black Lives Matter “divisive” and blamed President Barack Obama for worsening race relations across the country.

Trump was president during the summer of 2020’s racial justice protests following Floyd’s killing. During the protest, he Posted“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he said. signed an executive order Although it encourages improvements in police practices, it has been criticized for failing to recognize what some see as systemic racial bias in policing.

meanwhile Speech in New York 2017President Trump seemed to be advocating for rougher treatment of people in custody, downplaying the police practice of covering the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars.

President Trump’s election prompted many racial justice activists to shift their focus from individual police departments to how federal policy funds and protects against police misconduct.

George Floyd murder case

This movement was reintroduced into politics by Chauvin killed Floyd In May 2020.

The protests transformed American politics, shocking even many who had spent years championing policies that suddenly became mainstream, such as community task forces, limits on police tactics, and defunding of police. .

Floyd’s relatives attended the 2020 Democratic National Convention. The following year, Democrats introduced a bill that would make sweeping reforms.

The George Floyd Policing Act would have banned chokeholds and no-knock warrants like the one led by Louisville police. murder breonna taylor At her house. It would also have created a database listing police officers who have been disciplined for serious misconduct.

The House passed it in 2021, but the Senate was unable to reach an agreement.

Stand outside or sit at a table

Ella Jones hadn’t considered running for president before the Ferguson protests. Mr. Jones, a minister and entrepreneur, said he felt called to protest Mr. Brown’s killing, but was approached by local Democratic leaders to run for mayor in Ferguson. She won a seat on the city council and was eventually elected mayor.

“You can stand outside and scream at the system, but you have to have a seat at the table where policy is being decided,” Jones said. “Some people may go into politics, some people may try to start a nonprofit organization, but it takes all of us working together to make change.

“We have to have a seat at the table where policy is decided.”

Mr. Ferguson’s prosecuting attorney, Wesley Bell, had promised to tackle police misconduct.

Bell said in 2020 that lawmakers need to take a hard look at laws that protect police officers from prosecutions that are not available to ordinary citizens.

“This handcuffs prosecutors in many ways when prosecuting police officers who commit unlawful use of force or police shootings,” Bell said.

in august he beat bush In a bitter Democratic US House of Representatives primary.

President Bush said he did not know what he would do after leaving Congress.

“But the fight is still here and my boots are not far from me,” she said. “So people were probably wondering whether she was more dangerous in Congress or outside Congress.”

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