A Matter of Life
In the past five years more than 400 people have been killed by police during traffic stops. None of these people posed a risk to the police or the public. None had a gun or knife. None were involved in criminal activity. All of these people were stopped for minor issues such as expired registration, cracked windows, or air fresheners dangling from mirrors. All were on their way doing ordinary, everyday things. Then a cop pulled them over. All lost their lives because of police violence.
We know some of their names. Just one year ago this week, 20-year-old Daunte Wright was pulled over in Brooklyn Center Minnesota. He was killed by an officer who mistook her gun for a taser.
Philando Castile was killed nearby in 2016 during a routine traffic stop.
Now Patrick Lyoya is dead. He was shot in the back of the head by a police officer on April 4th after being pulled over for a minor registration issue. He was 26 years old. His family had survived violence in the Congo, only to face the death of their first born child on the streets of Grand Rapids.
Every week somewhere in this country a young black man is killed by police during a traffic stop.
Death comes in the context of persistent traffic stops of African Americans for alleged violations of traffic regulations. Recently a 2020 report from the Los Angeles inspector general documented that officers “disproportionately stopped Black and Hispanic drivers, often for minor or technical violations. That was especially true for officers in gang units or assigned to high crime areas. Yet even in those cases the minor stops almost never yielded arrests for serious crimes.” The report noted that this was “not unique” to LA, but part of a larger national pattern.
Increasingly, local governments are recognizing that this kind of police behavior gives police a license to kill. Last month LA did a major overhaul of its policies. Philadelphia has put a ban on such stops. Pittsburg, Seattle, Berkeley, California, Lansing, and Brooklyn Center, MN have taken similar steps. The State of Virginia, after high profile reports of violations of human rights, has become the first state to ban these kinds of stops. Several local prosecutors have put police on notice that they will not bring charges based on evidence gathered from these intrusions.
Yet in every place where reform efforts are emerging, local police unions and their supporters are attempting to block even the most minor reforms. Here in Michigan mild, bipartisan legislation to ban chokeholds, no knock warrants and the destruction of evidence, and to require officers to report abusive behaviors has been unable to get out of committee.
The power of police unions to block change is well known. They are supported by right wing forces around the country who see the police for exactly what they are, a domestic military aimed at controlling forces for progressive change, especially those in black and brown communities. Sometimes they kill, sometimes they handcuff children, sometimes they humiliate people and send them on their way. They do not make us safe.
Across the country people are taking to the streets to say enough. Defunding the police is not some empty ideal. It is a matter of life. Our communities are desperate for protection. People want good schools, parks, recreation centers, support for artists, adequate housing, access to water, heat and healthy food. We want communities that encourage life and joy. Investing in each other, not the police, is the only way to protect us all.