The California Attorney General is Investigating Sean Monterrosa’s Killing. His Sisters Are Also Fighting For Systemic Change Monterrosa, 22, was killed by a police officer who had a history of shooting at civilians. His sisters are pushing for a law they believe could have saved him. Piper French
How George Floyd’s Death Is Pushing Minneapolis to Rethink Public Safety The police killing has accelerated a years-long effort by advocates and lawmakers to shift resources and money away from law enforcement. Joshua Vaughn
‘Captain Taser’ A Vallejo police lieutenant has a long history of excessive force allegations in a department that is under investigation by the California Department of Justice—and he continues to rise in the ranks. Brian Krans
For a Glimpse of the Racial Justice Protests’ Staying Power, Look To Detroit Under the banner of Detroit Will Breathe, the city’s Black Lives Matter activists have formed a cohesive and lasting local political force. Chris Gelardi
Portland Civil Rights Activists Want A Mayor Who Can Stand Up To Police Mayor Ted Wheeler’s popularity has declined after a summer of protests against police violence in the Oregon city. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Communities Need And Deserve A Reset Of Policing And The Justice System. Trump Has Created A Sham Process that Excludes Them. Under the guise of restoring public confidence in law enforcement, President Trump’s secretive and regressive Commission on Law Enforcement is stacked with old-guard failed tough-on-crime thinking that precipitated the crisis of confidence we now face. Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Joe Brann
After Atlanta Teen Is Injured in a Police Encounter, Lawyers Call for Change The 17-year-old, who his lawyers say was pushed off a fence by a police officer, survived the fall but suffered serious injuries. Joshua Vaughn
It’s Time To Form A Community-Led Citizen Review Board For The Cedar Rapids Police Now is the time to act. If we have learned anything since George Floyd’s death, it is that we cannot keep waiting for change. Stacey Walker, Maria Hawilo
Lawmakers Push For The Federal Government To Treat Racism As A Public Health Crisis Members of Congress have introduced a bill that would create a National Center on Anti-Racism in Health. Kira Lerner
Lori Lightfoot’s Actions Don’t Match Her Rhetoric About Police Like her Democratic mayoral counterparts in Portland, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York, Lightfoot has condemned police violence outside her borders, while using law enforcement to suppress demonstrations in her own city. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
After Recent Unrest, Chicago Leaders Are Pointing Fingers In All The Wrong Places In difficult moments like this, we can’t let bad faith attacks set our community back. What our families need are resources and investment, not more police on the streets. Robert Peters
Orlando Sheriff, Who Is Running for Re-Election, Shot a Teen to Death in 1999 The boy’s mother says Orange County Sheriff John Mina has still never spoken to her after more than 20 years. And in the wake of the George Floyd uprisings, local activists are asking why Mina deserves to keep his job. Jerry Iannelli
The Role of Police in Gentrification A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common. Brenden Beck
Police Violence Was a Problem In Portland Long Before Federal Agents Arrived Local law enforcement tear-gassed and beat protesters and journalists. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Defund Movement Aims to Change the Policing and Prosecution of Domestic Violence Though domestic violence is often cited as a reason to maintain the carceral status quo, advocates say there are more humane—and effective—alternatives. Jessica Pishko
In This Moment Of Reckoning Around Police Violence, Don’t Forget The Unseen Abuses Of People Who Are Incarcerated Excessive force against people being arrested, falsification of evidence against suspects, and brutality by guards against prisoners — these are all just different forms of the same problem. Vernon Horn
How Prison Abolitionists Are Meeting The Moment The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests over police brutality are strengthening the case against mass incarceration, advocates argue. Emily Nonko
People In Crisis Need Social Workers, Not Cops Social Workers address crises regularly and without an armed police officer standing in front of us. Often, the presence of an armed officer escalates a crisis that could have been better handled by mental health professionals alone. Vivianne Guevara, Nakia Winfield
Defund The Police. Our Lives Depend On It. Safe and healthy communities start with less police and more investment in community services that work. A’Brianna Morgan
Cops, Climate, COVID: Why There Is Only One Crisis Although the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis are both provoked by natural phenomena, the dangers they present are just as political as the crisis of police violence. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
What Kamala Harris’s Take on Policing Gets Wrong Rather than encouraging more faith in the police, true reform requires dismantling the system that empowers them. Alex S. Vitale
