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Stand Strong for Racial Justice

ACTION CALL: RACIAL JUSTICE POLICING BILL

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW TO ENSURE JUSTICE IS WON IN THE NAME OF ACCOUNTABILITY & EQUITY

Background:  The Legislature passed a strong bill that responds to the movement on police accountability and racial justice related to policing and criminal justice.

The Governor sent the bill back to the Legislature with suggested amendments that would weaken the bill and said he would not sign a new bill sent to him unless they are all accepted.  We have until Dec 23rd to get this on the Governors desk or the bill dies.

MCAN’s position is that we recognize that we do not have a veto proof majority in the house to get this over the finish line. We believe that if legislators do not hear a clear message about what is negotiable, they may either choose on their own what to negotiate out or the bill may die. We have decided that the least amount of harm will be done by allowing the Governor to keep training oversight under the Executive Office of Public Safety. BUT THAT IS ALL. Use of Force policies and definitions must be kept under POST, separated from training and EOPS.

Other’s believe the message should be that we accept no amendments and that there is a chance the Governor’s hand may be forced if the bill can return in that way. 

As to the specifics of your ask, you should decide what feels right for you and/or your organization.

1. Contact House Speaker Robert DeLeo (617) 722-2500 Robert.DeLeo@mahouse.gov

Senate President Karen Spilka (617) 722-1500

Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov

Hi, my name is_____________ and I live in _____________________.

The Legislature passed a good Policing Racial Justice bill.

I’m asking you to reject the amendments the Governor sent back.

I’m asking you to pass the strongest bill possible so we have fairness in our policing and racial justice for all. Please do not delay this process. Do not invite further amendments.

OR

Hi, my name is_____________ and I live in _____________________.

I think all of the Governor’s amendments are not moving Racial Justice Forward.  I am willing to see the training of police remain with the MPTC, but I do not stand for the rest of the Governor’s amendments which do not translate into racial justice. Please do not delay this process. Do not invite further amendments.

2. CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS – Tell them we dont want additional amendments to be added to the bill. If legislators bring up amendments, new or old, it will slow down the process and in essence kill the bill. We only have until Dec 23rd to get this on the Governor’s desk and nothing can slow this down. Find your legislators contact information at this link.

I’m asking you to pass the strongest bill possible. If negotiation has to happen, the only place I’m willing to see it is for the Training to be housed under the Executive Office of Public Safety.

3. Call 5-10 friends and ask them to make the same call.

4. CONTACT GOV. BAKER – and tell him
”Governor Baker, we’re extremely disappointed at your unwillingness to sign the bill. Nothing of what you have offered is going to move Racial Justice forward. In this pivotal moment, we call on you to publicly demand that other Republicans in the legislature not file further amendments or engage in further delay tactics. And we expect you to sign the bill when it returns to your desk.”
Call him at 617-725-4005 and/or email at baker@state.ma.us or at this form.

Time Scale: Urgent We have until Dec 26th to get this on the Governors Desk

The Senate and House could be taking this bill back up as early as this week, so dont hesitate to make your voice heard!

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED POINT BY POINT RESPONSE TO GOVERNOR BAKER’S AMENDMENTS

Below is a brief summary of the points in the power pt. For futher information, please CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED POINT BY POINT RESPONSE TO GOVERNOR BAKER’S AMENDMENTS

How did the Governor weaken the bill?  He proposes to strike 3 important definitions from Section 20 of the bill and moves police training out of the purview of the civilian POST (Peace Officer and Training Commission) and back under Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPSS), and proposes to strike Section 26, face surveillance regulations.

1. Dont weaken the POST (Police Officer Standards and Training Commission)

Use of force regulations and all certification standards must be maintained under the independent POST board, not left in the hands of those being regulated.

2. Dont weaken Use of Force Standards

The Governor wants to move who sets use of force standards from the civilian controlled POST to the police controlled MPTC (MA Police Training Council).  This would weaken accountability for the police.

 –The Governor also wants to remove the definitions in the bill for “imminent harm”, “necessary force”, and “totality of circumstances” which leads to no clear accountability for officers. We need to keep the definitions and the civilian control.

  –The Governor wants to move who sets use of force standards from the civilian controlled POST to the police controlled MPTC.  This would weaken accountability for the police.

3. Don’t end restrictions on Facial Recognition Technologys use by law enforcement agencies

Please keep the language in the bill instead of being eliminated.

 Facial recognition technology is dangerous and discriminatory. There’s a 30% error rate with these machines which leads to people being falsely accused and prosecuted, and the machines mistake Black and Brown faces at much higher rates than White faces.

The Legislature’s bill still allows case-by-case access to this technology with a warrant or if it is necessary to prevent a violent felony, so the Governor’s expressed concerns about failing to prevent a violent crime are not based in fact.

Governor Baker and Facial Recognition Technology

Join the movement for police reform.

People across Massachusetts called for justice and real police reform. 

We need our legislators to meet this moment with courage and take necessary steps to increase accountability for police and address the concerns of over-policed communities.

No more empty promises or lip-service legislation. It’s time to lead.

We need real reform now.

key reforms

Real police reform legislation must include two key reforms.

Limits to Qualified Immunity

"Qualified immunity" shields police officers from being held legally liable for their actions. We need the common-sense limits to this policy to hold bad actors accountable and ensure victims have their day in court.

Real police reform must include the MA Senate's language limiting qualified immunity.

RACIAL JUSTICE LEADERS INCLUDED IN POLICE OVERSIGHT SAFETY AND TRAINING SYSTEM

A Police Oversight Safety & Training (POST) System can investigate misconduct and provide guidance and oversight to ensure long-term reform. To restore police-community trust, we need experienced representatives from overpoliced communities at the table.

Real police reform must ensure that racial justice leaders are included on a fully-empowered POST System.

We also encourage the Legislature to include the following reforms.
Limits on Police Use of Force
There is evidence that no-knock warrants are disproportionately executed against Black and Latinx people. No-knock warrants must be limited to instances where officers can provide information about a specific and credible threat to officers’ safety, and certify that there are no children or elders in the home.
Civil Service Exam Commission
The lack of diversity within police departments is a significant factor in the way policing happens in Black communities, and evaluating the current Civil Service Commission structure for entrance and promotional exams will provide important insight to help police departments more accurately reflect the diverse communities they serve.
Ban Racial Profiling and Require Data Collection for All Stops
Massachusetts has ample evidence of ongoing racial disparities in stops of vehicles and pedestrians, but little has been done to remedy this ineffective and racially biased police practice. We implore legislators to ban racial profiling and to give the ban teeth by requiring the collection of data for all stops, frisk and searches with, analysis, reporting, and accountability if the data demonstrates profiling.
Expungement
To address the disproportionate burden of the criminal legal system borne by the Black community, we must expand expungement opportunities to allow individuals to petition for expungement for more than one record. Reforms should also create a limited, rather than indefinite, lookback period for expungement eligibility.
Commission on Structural Racism
Despite the numerous reports that highlight the existence of racial disparities, Massachusetts has not formed a commission to review the policies and practices that cause those racial disparities. In order to identify the policies and practices that lead to racially disparate outcomes, we need a commission on structural racism.
Justice Reinvestment Workforce Development Fund
Justice Reinvestment is the proposal that directly makes investment in communities that bear the brunt of injustices related to poverty, criminalization, and over-policing. Creating this fund will provide opportunities for job training, job creation and job placement to provide resources that our communities so desperately need.
Youth Privacy Protections
Protect our children by prohibiting schools from transmitting personal information about students or their family members to law enforcement.
Local Control Over School Resource Officers
We know that police presence in schools disproportionately impacts Black children. Short of requiring the removal of police from schools, the Legislature should at least allow school district superintendents to determine whether or not police should be assigned to local schools.
Face Surveillance Ban
This unreliable and racially biased technology has no place in law enforcement, especially in the absence of any civil liberties and privacy protections governing its use. Several municipalities have already banned governmental use of the technology and we encourage the Legislature to do the same for the rest of the Commonwealth.

take action

Sign our petition to tell leaders on Beacon Hill that we need real police reform now.

Dear Representative Cronin, Representative González, Representative Whelan, Senator Brownsberger, Senator Chang-Díaz, Senator Tarr:

We the undersigned, who represent a variety of organizations and communities throughout the Commonwealth, write to express our growing concern about the level of influence police unions have had on shaping the police reform legislation that you are currently considering. Without a resolute commitment to meaningful change, Black communities will continue to experience aggressive, violent, and sometimes deadly policing. The legislature must meet this political moment with courage and take bold steps to increase accountability for police, address the concerns of our overpoliced communities, protect young people, and ensure there is greater transparency in policing. 

As the nation grapples with this generation’s civil rights moment, all eyes are on Massachusetts. Advocacy organizations and lawmakers alike are looking to Massachusetts to see how we respond to this historic moment. Will we address the concerns raised by the voices of those who disproportionately experience policing in harmful ways, or will we yield to the demands of those who want to maintain the status quo? Whatever we do, others states will follow.  As a state that leads across many sectors, we cannot let our past failings in the criminal legal system, (racial profiling disparities, disproportionate rates of incarceration, ) continue to define who we are.

We appreciate the amount of time, energy and thoughtfulness that has gone into drafting, debating, and reconciling both the House and Senate bills. However, if what the conference committee reports out does not meet our desired outcomes, those efforts will have been in vain, and our communities will continue to suffer. Various Black leaders have reached out to you in an effort to make known what is needed in this political moment. You have received letters from the New England Area Conference of the NAACP and the ACLU of Massachusetts on July 28th, Black and Latinx City Council Presidents on July 30th, AME Pastors from Massachusetts on August 2nd. In addition to these letters the Boston Branch of the NAACP convened a community forum of the immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor developed a list of community demands. In order for us to consider this bill a success we must see the following reforms:

  1. Strong POST system: In order for Massachusetts to have one of the strongest POST systems in the country it must not be constrained by the “preponderance of the evidence” standard to initiate investigations. Additionally, in order to address the longstanding racial disparities in policing a majority of the commission members made up of civilians who are either people of color who are members of demographics groups with higher rates of police interactions in relation to their population in the Commonwealth, work for racial justice organizations, or both;
  2. Limits on Police Use of Force: There is evidence that no-knock warrants are disproportionately executed against Black and Latinx people.  No-knock warrants must be limited to instances where officers can provide information about a specific and credible threat to officers’ safety, and certify that there are no children or elders in the home.
  3. Civil Service Exam Commission: The lack of diversity within police departments is a significant factor in the way policing happens in Black communities. Evaluating the current Civil Service Commission structure for entrance and promotional exams will provide important insight to help  increase opportunities for municipalities to have police departments that more accurately reflect the diverse demographics of the community.
  4. Limits on Qualified Immunity: Victims of police violence and egregious misconduct must be allowed to have their day in court. You must put  reasonable limits on the legal doctrine of qualified immunity. The language in Section 10 of the Senate bill reasonably limits the reach of this doctrine that has denied justice for far too many, while protecting unjust police conduct. The language from the House bill will not go far enough to prevent future harm.
  5. Ban Racial Profiling and Require Data Collection for All Stops: In one of the last opinions authored by our beloved and recently deceased Chief Justice Ralph Gants he declared that “the prohibition against racial profiling must be given teeth and that judges should suppress evidence where a motor vehicle stop is motivated, even in part, by the race of the driver or passenger.”[1] Massachusetts has ample evidence of ongoing racial disparities in stops of vehicles and pedestrians, but little has been done to remedy this ineffective and racially biased police practice. To honor the legacy of Chief Justice Gants we implore you to ban racial profiling and to give the ban teeth by requiring the collection of data for all stops, frisk and searches with, analysis, reporting, and accountability if the data demonstrates profiling.
  6. Expungement: To ameliorate the badges and incidents of the criminal legal system that is disproportionately borne by the Black community, you must expand expungement opportunities. Sections 59-61 of the Senate bill clarifies that individuals petitioning for expungement may do so for more than one record and creates a limited, rather than indefinite, lookback period for expungement eligibility. 

In addition to the above must have reforms, there are several other reforms that we encourage you to include to truly make Massachusetts a leader.

  1. Commission on Structural Racism: Unfortunately, our declarations of injustice and critiques of structural racism often fall on unsympathetic ears in the absence of empirical data. Despite the numerous reports that look at racial disparities, there has not been a commission that will take a comprehensive look at the policies and practices that lead to racially disparate outcomes. In order to zero in on the policies and practices that lead these disparate outcomes we trust that you will include in the final version of the bill a commission on structural racism.
  2. Justice Reinvestment Workforce Development Fund: In the midst of public demands to defund the police and invest in community-based programing and services, Justice Reinvestment” is the proposal that directly makes investment in communities that bear the brunt of injustices related to poverty, criminalization, and over-policing. Create this fund to provide opportunities for job training, job creation and job placement to provide resources that our communities so desperately need.
  3. Youth Privacy Protections: Protect our children by prohibiting schools from transmitting to law enforcement personal information about students or their family members.
  4. Local Control Over School Resource Officers: We know that police presence in schools disproportionately impacts Black children, short of requiring the removal of police from schools, you should at least allow the school district superintendents to determine whether or not police should be assigned to local schools.
  5. Face Surveillance Ban: This unreliable and racially biased technology has no place in law enforcement, especially in the absence of any civil liberties and privacy protections governing its use. Several municipalities have already banned governmental use of the technology and we encourage you to do the same for the rest of the Commonwealth.

We have watched as police unions and law enforcement organizations have taken out full page ads, made public claims of exceptionalism in policing, and bombarded legislators with calls and emails suggesting that the reforms we seek will somehow prevent law enforcement from performing their duties. To the extent legislators have considered the perspective of law enforcement officials, we ask that you consider the lived and professional experience of the undersigned leaders and organizations who represent Black people and communities who have for too long endured police violence and discrimination. As you finalize your conference report we expect it to include our aforementioned measures of success to move Massachusetts closer to becoming that exceptional Commonwealth where justice no longer eludes our communities. 

Seeking Justice,

Andrea Nyamekye                 

Beverly Williams, Criminal Justice Advocate, Bethel AME Church – Boston

Bishop Talbert Swan, Pastor Spring of Hope Church of God In Christ – Springfield

Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition

Black Economic Council of Massachusetts

Black Economic Justice Institute

Black Ministerial Alliance

Brandon Tillingham, NILE – Nubians in Letters Envisioning      

Brothers Building        

Celia Blue, Black Families Together of Worcester
Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition                 

Charlotte Golar Richie          

Cheryl Clyburn Crawford  

Dalida Rocha      

Daniel Laurent Co-Founder, Kings Table

Darrin Howell, President, DRIVE Boston Community Resources, Inc.

Dunk The Vote 2020

Encuentro Diaspora Afro      

Eric Esteves        

Horace Small, Union of Minority Neighborhoods     

Imari Paris Jefferies, King Boston

Jamarhl Crawford, Mass Police Reform

James”Jimmy” Hills, Host #JavaWithJimmy  

Keturah Brewster, I Have a Future Boston

Khrystian King, Worcester City Councilor At-Large

Latoya Gayle

Leon Smith Executive Director, Citizens for Juvenile Justice

Louis Elisa, Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association Inc.

Michael A. Curry, National NAACP Board member

NAACP, New England Area Conference, representing the following branches:

NAACP, Amherst Branch

NAACP, Berkshire County Branch

NAACP, Boston Branch

NAACP, Brockton Branch

NAACP, Cambridge Branch

NAACP, Cape Cod Branch

NAACP, Martha’s Vineyard Branch

NAACP, Merrimack Valley Branch

NAACP, Mystic Valley Area Branch

NAACP, New Bedford Branch

NAACP, North Shore

NAACP, South Middlesex Branch

NAACP, Springfield Branch

NAACP, Worcester Branch

Noemi Ramos     

Orlando Watkins

Paul Francisco 

Prophetic Resistance   

Rahn Dorsey

Rahsaan Hall Director, Racial Justice Program ACLU of Massachusetts

Rev. Barbara Simmons Pastor, Bethel AME Church – Plymouth 

Rev. Bernadette Hickman-Maynard Pastor, Bethel AME Church – Lynn         

Rev. Brandon Crowley Pastor, Myrtle Baptist Church – Newton 

Rev. Jocelyn Hart Lovelace Presiding Elder, Boston-Hartford District of the AME Church     

Rev. June Cooper, City Mission    

Rev. Keith Magee Pastor, Berachah Church

Rev. Mariama White-Hammond Pastor, New Roots AME Church – Boston, MA

Rev. Ray Hammond Pastor, Bethel AME Church – Boston, MA

Rev. Willie Bodrick II J.D., M.Div. Senior Pastor-Elect, Historic Twelfth Baptist Church        

Sheena Collier     

Sheriff Steve Tompkins       

Stesha Emmanuel, President Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association       

Stuck on Replay

Tanisha M. Sullivan

Ten Point Coalition

Teen Empowerment    

Tito Jackson

Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts