The Black Caucus Community is Looking for Police Reform Change
The Black Caucus is a Congressional caucus that is for the most part made up of African American members. These members are part of the United States Congress. They are trying to fight for justice against police brutality. The African American community wants to ensure a future where they are valued and respected with no maltreatment. The reason is that this is a social issue, an injustice that has been going on for a very long time now.
Families do not want to go through more emotional pain due to these situations. This is why they went to the President of the United States Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to review and discuss this issue. They talked about how long this issue has been a problem, adding they wanted to secure any solutions that might come up in the process because something has to be done about this.
Cases of Police Brutality Keep Going Up
Unfortunately, there is always a new case of police brutality. For instance, George Floyd was one that really impacted the entire nation. His death not only showed officers abusing their power but also the racism resonating within the system. Also, cases where a police officer escalated the situation and took it to extreme consequences. These types of consequences express how this issue has gone worse, and this has got to stop. Which is why this community is trying to fight these injustices.
Starting this year, a new police brutality case arose to the attention of the public. This is the new case of Tyre Nichols. Nichols was pulled over by the Memphis police. He was pulled over by five police officers in total.
Nichols was beaten by them and passed away three days later. This has been an opportunity that the Black Caucus community saw that together they can collaborate for a change with Biden. They want Biden, the State of the Union, and Congress to do something due to the fact that this case provoked madness and outrage from people from all over the country due to the long history of this issue.
The Opportunity of State of the Union
The Black Caucus saw the State of the Union as an opportunity to keep pressing and pushing for police reform. “We do not want an end to policing. We want an end to bad policing. And all of us should agree that bad policing has no place anywhere in our communities in America,” stated Nevada Representative Steven Horsford.
This is an impactful statement that demonstrates how society does not want to put a stop to end police, rather they want to see a change in the system of how police handle certain types of situations. It’s a serious issue to see the police have authority because of their position. Some take advantage of this and feel entitled to react the way that they do.
Stories of police abusing their power ring out across the United States, especially among those most affected in minority communities. Black and Brown individuals are usually the victims of police brutality.
The Reasons Why This is an Ongoing Issue
Furthermore, like many others, the Black Caucus community is waiting for a change across the nation. It is known that people react the way they do because of many different factors. For instance, the way they are treated at home or school can affect how they behave in society and work. All of these officers with abusive-power mentalities and behaviors start from a young age, and vice-versa for those who are perpetrated against.
The school-to-jail pipeline is a huge contributor which is the practice of pushing kids out of school and toward the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This is when the school system fails the students. Meaning when a student drops out or is expelled from school, it is more probable for this student to end up in jail because of their behavior.
Instead of educating kids in a more appropriate way, when they get in trouble, the education system decides right away to do detention, suspension, expulsion, etc. If society started to make a change in this critical area of instead sending students off to jail, they should be sent to college. This is also a big part of why the Black Caucus wants to create an impact on police reform.
Police Should not be Stopped, it Should be Better Instead
The Black Caucus agrees with the idea that policing should definitely not stop but it should change its system of action. All of these confrontations start from the development of kids, which is why this pipeline has to stop from continuing. It’s of great benefit that the Black Caucus has taken action, spoken up, and advocated for this issue of police reform because police have to stop feeling entitlement and taking situations to extreme consequences and do better in a more professional way.
Written by Jeanette Sanchez
Sources:
NPR: Black caucus sees State of the Union important chance to push for police reform
U.S. NEWS: Study Confirms School-to-Prison Pipeline (usnews.com)
ABC NEWS: “Need action”:Biden meets with Congressional Black Caucus on policing after Tyre Nichols’ death
Featured Image by Adam Schultz Courtesy of Rep. James E. Clyburn Flickr Page-Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of ep_jhu Flickr Page-Creative Commons License
