XPost: alt.fan.states.iowa, alt.fan.states.south-dakota, mn.politics   
   From: insane-fag@barackobama.com   
      
   WASHINGTON -- A year after demonstrations in the St. Louis   
   suburb of Ferguson launched the Black Lives Matter movement,   
   some of the most prominent voices in the campaign to reform   
   policing in the United States introduced a detailed list of   
   specific proposals that they want to bring about "a world where   
   the police don't kill people."   
      
   The comprehensive set of policy demands on the federal and state   
   level introduced by Black Lives Matter activists on Friday,   
   named Campaign Zero, comes after months of discussions with   
   protesters from across the country and was informed by the   
   recommendations of President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st   
   Century Policing. One of the members of Campaign Zero's planning   
   team, Brittany Packnett, was actually a member of the   
   presidential task force as well as Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's (D)   
   Ferguson Commission.   
      
   Many of Campaign Zero's proposals -- including body cameras,   
   better training, and community oversight -- enjoy broad support   
   from the American public at large and many law enforcement   
   leaders. Just this week, in fact, a top policing organization   
   issued a study suggesting that the way police officers use force   
   needs to "change dramatically," and that many controversial   
   police shootings -- even if legally justified -- could have been   
   avoided.   
      
   “Folks are almost not even able to imagine an America where   
   people are not being killed by police," Samuel Sinyangwe, one of   
   the members of the team that put together the proposal, told The   
   Huffington Post. "That is the norm in many other developed   
   countries. It’s about challenging that notion and really showing   
   that through policy change we can get very close, if not   
   achieve, that goal.”   
      
   "At this point, there's widespread acknowledgement that policing   
   needs fundamental changes," DeRay Mckesson, who has become one   
   of the most prominent members of the Black Lives Matter   
   movement, said in an interview. "There's an understanding that   
   we need to expand the way we think about safety in communities."   
      
   The policy platform aims to reform existing structural issues   
   with policing and put in place new systems that will end police   
   violence against black Americans. The campaign, informed by data   
   on the causes and impact of police violence, draws on years of   
   research from other organizations, including the Justice   
   Department's National Institute of Justice.   
      
   The platform also demands that all officers be equipped with   
   body cameras; for hog-ties, nickel-rides and chokeholds to be   
   felony offenses;  for officers to undergo consistent racial bias   
   training; police demilitarization and the establishment of a   
   permanent special prosecutor at the federal level who will   
   independently investigate all cases of a police killing or   
   seriously injuring a civilian.   
      
   "In this moment, everything is on the table, right? There are no   
   more sacred institutions," Mckesson said. "What we know to be   
   true is that there are structures and systems that were   
   intentionally put in place that were harming people, and the   
   protest community is willing to question all of them."   
      
   The project has been in the works for months, he added, and   
   organizers focused on talking "about complex things simply."   
      
   Campaign Zero is also calling for laws preventing police   
   departments from imposing minimum quotas for tickets and   
   arrests, for recruiting and retaining more officers of color and   
   the decriminalization of marijuana and drinking alcohol in   
   public, according to The Guardian.   
      
   The campaign's website has a list of some of the top   
   presidential candidates on the Republican and Democratic sides   
   and their policy positions in relation to Campaign Zero's   
   proposals. Candidates were listed on the main page of the   
   website mostly based on how they were polling, Sinyangwe said,   
   but Rand Paul was added because he is one of the few candidates   
   who has made criminal justice reform a key part of his agenda.   
      
   “With regard to Republicans, I’m not surprised but it is sad,"   
   said Sinyangwe. "When I think about police violence, I think   
   that is a conservative issue -- an agent of the government…   
   basically taking people’s lives, intervening in the most extreme   
   way possible. But that’s not how they see it.”   
      
   The platform's unveiling comes after several high-profile   
   disruptions of presidential campaign events by Black Lives   
   Matter activists.   
      
   Last month, Black Lives Matter activists interrupted the   
   Netroots Nation convention, the largest annual meeting of   
   progressives in the U.S. They demanded that Democratic   
   candidates acknowledge that “the most important and urgent issue   
   of our day is structural violence and systemic racism that is   
   oppressing and killing black women, men and children,” Tia Oso,   
   the woman who took the stage during the protest, wrote for Mic.   
      
   A simple interruption of a progressive town hall meeting was   
   powerful enough to make systemic racism a conversation on the   
   campaign trail. But talking isn’t enough. Activists want to hear   
   concrete solutions to problems created by systemic racism before   
   endorsing any of the candidates.   
      
   Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic   
   nomination, has introduced a policy platform targeting   
   structural anti-black racism. Former Maryland Gov. Martin   
   O'Malley (D) has rolled out a framework for criminal justice   
   reform, although it's less explicit in its discussion of racism   
   than Sanders' platform. Former Secretary of State Hillary   
   Clinton, however, has not yet produced a comprehensive agenda   
   focusing on police violence or mass incarceration -- issues that   
   disproportionately affect black Americans -- even though she is   
   currently the most popular candidate among black voters, with a   
   favorability rate of 68 percent.   
      
   Clinton’s policy director and others campaign staffers recently   
   spoke with Campaign Zero planning team members Mckesson and   
   Packnett about police reform, criminal justice and other issues   
   of importance to the black community.   
      
   "The campaign is interested in connecting with a broad range of   
   people in the movement," Mckesson said. "As campaigns develop   
   their policy platforms, it's important that many people have   
   opportunities to influence the process -- that this is not   
   politics as usual."   
      
   "They made a commitment to reaching out, and I'm hopeful that as   
   many people as possible can be heard and take an active role in   
   shaping potential policies," he went on. "This is an opportunity   
   to redefine how presidential campaigns engage with black   
   communities and prioritize black life."   
      
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-policy-   
   demands_55d7392ae4b0a40aa3aa9443   
      
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)