Our fresh takes on policing this week
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Like 1963, but different
More than 50 years ago, a group of white clergymen in Alabama spoke out about civil rights demonstrations, saying that protesters should be patient and handle changes through the courts. The eight clergymen also discouraged blacks in Birmingham from joining forces with prominent civil rights demonstrators in the area. And that included Martin Luther King, Jr. — the letter referred to him as an "outsider."
King responded with his now famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," in which he stated that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Last week, eight Alabama clergy again released a statement about civil rights demonstrations in their state. But this time, their message was more reflective of King's than of their religious predecessors.
In response to the death of E.J. Bradford, the young black man who was killed by a cop on Thanksgiving after a mall shooting, the white religious leaders released a YouTube video in which they stated that "black lives matter."
They also called for whites across the country to be allies in the movement and requested that they "stop and listen" and "respect black voices and black leadership."
Nation's capital is preparing Police for Tomorrow
The two-year fellowship — created by Georgetown University and Washington D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department — might be exactly what officers across the country need to strip their ranks of implicit bias and create better ties between law enforcement and the surrounding community.
The program, called Police for Tomorrow, started June 5, 2017 and the first class will graduate next year. The fellows (both officers and civilian members of the MPD are eligible as along as they have been working for the department for less than a year) meet once a month for workshops, group discussions and community engagement activities that cover everything from criminal justice and race to the law.
For more about the program, visit the MPD site.
For a telling profile on one of the officers who is participating (and who was once a victim of racial profiling by the metro police), read this Washington Post column by Theresa Vargas.
Criminal justice reform comes with a high price tag
The FIRST STEP Act, if passed, could release thousands of inmates into the general population over a relatively short period of time. And that flood of uninsured people onto Medicaid and other social services rolls could cost the government about $346 million, according to a Politico report about the latest Congressional Budget Office findings.
The criminal justice reform bill has strong bipartisan support and would, among other things, provide early release for low-risk offenders and shorten sentences for some people who were locked up for crack cocaine offenses.
Want more? Check out the Policing the USA site for information on police, policing and the justice system across the country.
Want to talk about police, race and the justice system in America? Reach out to Policing the USA editor Eileen Rivers on Twitter @msdc14 or via email at erivers@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Our fresh takes on policing this week
