White people must raise their voices to also demand change in Louisville policing: Opinion
The exhaustive report from the United States Department of Justice names a pattern of abuse from Louisville Metro Police Department, who disproportionately target and terrorize Black communities in Louisville. The report further documents LMPD’s abuse in its responses to behavioral health crises, sexual assault and intimate partner violence.
The results of the DOJ’s investigation echo what Black, disabled, poor and unhoused Louisvillians have been saying for years. If we had an administration committed to change, this report would land on fertile ground and we could reimagine public safety, divest from an inherently unjust and violent policing system and invest in what people in Louisville need in order to thrive.
Unfortunately, the announcements by the mayor last week about major investments in LMPD, his refusal to publicly oppose the half-billion dollar new jail being pushed by several Metro Council members, and the refusal to open the upcoming negotiation of the police contract to the public, already tell us that this is not a mayor who will make the changes we need without the continued, concerted public pressure that brought about an investigation by the DOJ in the first place.
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Racial justice benefits every one of us and our community
As an organization focused on moving white people into action for racial justice—the racial justice that will benefit every one of us and our community—we must raise our voices to demand change that goes deeper than window dressing.
Mayor Craig Greenberg’s initial comments in response to the DOJ report underline the very legitimate concern that, without continued public intervention, nothing will actually be done to address the patterns of abuse and the unconstitutional practices that LMPD is well known for.
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The people who pay for Louisville's failure to address poverty
Racially motivated over-policing, racial profiling, the systemic use of violence and the arrests of poor or houseless people who pay for our failure to address poverty have been hallmarks of LMPD and mayoral leadership in Louisville for decades. An institution rooted in the capture of runaway enslaved people cannot be reformed with the “few bad apples'' approach the mayor is leading with.
What if we got serious about the community safety the mayor says matters to him? What if we began addressing the root causes of crime, like poverty, racism and lack of opportunity? What if we created community-based mental health services and ended the failed “war on drugs” which only fuels mass incarceration? What if social workers instead of police responded to nonviolent crime, and we instituted a restorative justice process instead of locking people in jail on low level charges? What if there was a real commitment to prioritizing affordable housing instead of going into hundreds of millions of dollars in debt for a new jail?
Unless we as a community continue to demand that this mayor make changes, we will only keep getting lip service, and the racist abuse and deaths will continue.
Noelle Tennis Gulden is a former LSURJ louisvillesurj.org Coordinating Team member, and is currently co-leading the LSURJ Campaign Planning Team to oppose the new jail. Jessica Reese is on the LSURJ Coordinating Team and co-leads the LSURJ Campaigns Team. Carla F Wallace is a co founder of Louisville SURJ and SURJ national surj.org
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: We must raise our voices to demand change in Louisville policing
