Some leaders commit to police reform
Those that have flooded the streets to protest often sport signs decrying police brutality and bearing some of Floyd’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” as well as the names of others that have been killed by police.
But as demonstrations continue, videos from all parts of the country continue to surface which depict officers using excessive force against demonstrators.
Both the violent responses from forces and the protesters’ powerful demands have prompted some elected leaders to begin pushing for change.
Nine Minneapolis City Council members made a commitment this week to start the process of defunding and “dismantling” the police department, Lisa Bender, the city council president, told CNN Sunday.
She said she and other council members are hearing from their constituents that “right now, our police department is not making our community feel safe.”
“And so our commitment is that every single member of our community have that safety and security that they need,” she said, adding that council will work with the community over the next year to build that system.
What that dismantling will look like exactly is still not set in stone, but Bender said the city would look into shifting police funding for other needs and begin a discussion on how to replace the current police department.
“The idea of having no police department is certainly not in the short term,” she said.
“These will be the first of many steps my administration will take over the next 18 months to rebuild a fairer city that profoundly addresses injustice and disparity,” he said in a statement.
Going forward, the city will also remove street vendor enforcement from the New York Police Department’s responsibilities, so police can focus on the “real drivers of crime,” the mayor said.
New York DAs won’t prosecute some protest-related arrests
In New York, the offices of at least two district attorneys announced they’d decline prosecutions of protesters based on certain charges.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. announced Friday that his office will decline to prosecute protest arrests on charges of unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct.
“The prosecution of protesters charged with these low-level offenses undermines critical bonds between law enforcement and the communities we serve,” the office said in a statement.
On Saturday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz tweeted she would decline to prosecute protest arrests based on curfew and social distancing violations.
That decision isn’t a recent one, as Katz has declined to prosecute curfew-breakers “from the start,” a spokesperson for her office said.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has said their office will review protest-related arrests to determine whether those “individuals should ever have to come to court or those cases should be declined.”
Medical groups denounce racism, police brutality
Meanwhile a chorus of medical groups, including the American Medical Association, have already released statements emphasizing that racism is a public health issue and calling for an end to police brutality.
On Sunday, the American Medical Association’s board of trustees put out a statement denouncing “police brutality and all forms of racially-motivated violence,” saying they opposed all forms of racism and committed to “actively work to dismantle racist and discriminatory policies and practices across all of healthcare.”
“The AMA recognizes that racism in its systemic, structural, institutional, and interpersonal forms is an urgent threat to public health, the advancement of health equity, and a barrier to excellence in the delivery of medical care,” the board said.
An earlier statement from the AMA came from its board chair, Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, and president, Dr. Patrice Harris.
“AMA policy recognizes that physical or verbal violence between law enforcement officers and the public, particularly among Black and Brown communities where these incidents are more prevalent and pervasive, is a critical determinant of health and supports research into the public health consequences of these violent interactions,” Ehrenfeld and Harris said in the statement.
In a press release announcing the new statement from the board, the AMA said it “recognizes that worsening inequities, unequal access to care, and the disproportionately small number of Black physicians all have roots in past actions of the AMA.”
In 2008, the group apologized for “more than a century of policies that excluded black physicians,” according to the press release.
CNN’s Josh Campbell, Theresa Waldrop, Anna Sturla, Sarah Jorgensen, Arman Azad and Laura Ly contributed to this report.