It's been 5 years since a police officer killed my son, Michael Brown. Nothing has changed.
Source: Washington Post
It’s been 5 years since a police officer killed my son, Michael Brown. Nothing has changed.
By Lezley McSpadden August 13 at 3:37 PM
Lezley McSpadden, author of “Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil,” is chief executive and founder of the Michael O.D. Brown Foundation.
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How is it that five years after Mike-Mike’s death, we still have a generation of young people who still don’t trust the police? What has changed? And what needs to?
I’d argue that nothing has changed. Black men and boys are still not safe walking down the street like Mike-Mike, riding in cars like Philando Castile or even being a good guy with a gun like Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr.
I still strongly believe that law enforcement officials need to be held accountable for their actions. When they cut someone down in the prime of their lives, they need to stand trial, they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and they need to pay for their crimes.
But I’m not just talking about when officers take someone’s life or use excessive force during arrests. I’m talking about oversight at every level — from tickets they write for jaywalking to cars pulled over on the streets. We need to know more about what those entrusted to protect and serve are doing every time they don their badges.
And most young adults agree: More than 70 percent support policies that put police under the supervision of community accountability boards, that require police to wear body cameras and that facilitate the adoption of community policing strategies.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-been-5-years-since-a-police-officer-killed-my-son-michael-brown-nothing-has-changed/2019/08/13/a478b3ae-bde1-11e9-9b73-fd3c65ef8f9c_story.html