America’s oldest Muslim organization hosts virtual forum on Police Reform
10th August 2020 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
On August 5, America’s oldest Muslim organization, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, held a virtual forum on police reform called “Policing: Reform or Re-form?”
The conversation was moderated by award-winning actor Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Green Book”). Panelists included Dr. Tricia Rose, the director for the Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity at Brown University; Dr. Cornel West, professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University; Police Chief Carmen Best of the Seattle Police Department; and Seth Stoughton, professor of the University of South Carolina School of Law.
The topic of police reform has been an emotional one in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Some protestors have embraced slogans like “defund the police” and “abolish the police.” Dr. Rose called for more specificity with demands for change.
“Abolishing is too far and defunding is too abstract,” Dr. Rose said. “I’m not interested in trying to be neighbors with a serial killer.”
“I don’t think anyone wants that, where you don’t have law enforcement,” Ali said.
Chief Best said that any calls for change must come with clear, concrete plans. It’s easy to say police forces should be reduced or funding should be allocated elsewhere. But doing that without a thorough, detailed plan in place on what comes next would be harmful. She also said that in recent years, she made an effort to hire younger, more diverse and progressive officers in the Seattle Police Department. When layoffs happen, the newest hires get laid off first, and Chief Best was worried that calls to cut the numbers of officers in her department would undercut her recent efforts to change it.
Dr. Rose said police departments have been historically used to enforce racial hierarchies and instances of police brutality, murder, and harassment cannot be dismissed as “one bad cop” or “one bad apple.” In her classes, she asks her students to recall the last time they were randomly stopped by a police officer. The students of color can easily recall such instances, but the middle class white students often say they have never experienced such treatment from the police. Dr. Rose called for all Americans to try to walk in the shoes of those of different races and backgrounds.
“Think about how you would want the police and society to respond to your children…How do we want our kids to be cared for when they’re in trouble?” Dr. Rose asked.
Stoughton said that communities of color often complain about being simultaneously overpoliced in certain areas and under-policed in others. These communities want to be protected from theft, violence, and other crimes as much as anyone, but they also want the random, aggressive stops and harassment to cease.
Dr. West agreed with Dr. Rose’s statements about police enforcing racial hierarchies, and added that they also enforce economic hierarchies. There are double standards in how police officers and white collar corporate criminals are treated in comparison to poor and working people when they are accused of crimes. All of it reduces trust in authority amongst disadvantaged communities.
“Poor and working people are not stupid. They can see the hypocrisy,” Dr. West said.
The distrust also comes from the feeling that police members aren’t truly part of their communities. Dr. Rose said all police officers should be required to live in the communities they police.
Stoughton echoed Dr. Rose’s thoughts about police officers needing to view themselves as part of a community. If an officer views a person they approach as a community member instead of as a potential criminal, it will affect how they treat them.
“When you view yourself as the thin blue line against the forces of evil and anarchy, you will be looking for adversaries to fight,” Stoughton said. “You need to respect both human life and human dignity.”
Chief Best said teaching not just police officers, but the population as a whole, to have empathy is an important part of changing society.
“We need to bring that humanity back. There is a gross indifference to human life,” Best said.
Chief Best said another problem is that police departments are being asked to respond to problems other systems should be addressing. She said her officers receive thousands of calls to respond to things like people suffering through a mental health crisis. Trained social workers would be better able to respond to such situations. Increased funding for mental health services would better serve these issues instead of more cops.
Marshaling public support for reform through effective messaging can be a challenge, especially in an era where many people use social media to talk over each other.
“When one part of the community views police as ensuring their safety and another part of the community views policing as a threat to their safety, it makes it difficult for them to agree what needs to be done to improve policing,” Stoughton said. “If we can talk about alternatives other than just policing to address those interests, then we’re potentially having a productive conversation.”
This article originally published in the August 10, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
