The Minneapolis City Council plans to announce its intent to dismantle the city's police department and replace it with a “community-led public safety” option with what The Appeal called "a veto-proof" majority Sunday afternoon. “We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police Department,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said in a statement The Appeal obtained. “We are also here because, here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States, it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety isn’t working for so many of our neighbors. Our efforts at incremental reform have failed.”
In the wake of Floyd’s death following a white cop holding his knee on the unarmed Black man’s neck for more than eight minutes, thousands of people have engaged in protests aimed at fighting police brutality throughout the nation. Yet and still, multiple videos went viral of the Minneapolis Police Department responding with brutality. Officers gassed crowds with tear gas, aimed guns loaded with rubber bullets at reporters, and even plowed through crowds of protesters, and the violence wasn’t contained to Minneapolis.
Add 16-year-old Levi Ayala and 25-year-old Mia Wright to a growing list of people of color shown on video being brutalized by authorities. Ayala just wanted to witness a historic protest May 30 near police headquarters in Austin when police fired a "beanbag" bullet at his head, fracturing his skull, according to Texas Monthly. Saraneka “Nemo” Martin, a pregnant Black woman retreating from police fire, was shot in the belly at a similar protest in Austin. And Wright was simply trying to do some shopping at a Chicago mall she didn’t realize had been closed because of looting last Sunday when Chicago police officers dragged her from a car by her hair and kneeled on her neck, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Although two police officers were relieved of their police powers in the Chicago incident, any form of accountability has been slow to follow in other examples of police brutality. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told CBS Austin no officers have been removed from duty while the police department investigates the incident injuring Ayala.
Even in an incident in which a 9-year-old girl was allegedly pepper-sprayed by police, the investigating police department has not confirmed the officer’s identity or detailed how the officer is being held accountable. "Uses of force, including pepper spray, during the demonstrations will undergo a high level of scrutiny and review by the chain of command," police spokesperson Kelsey Nyland told Buzzfeed News. "This incident in particular has been referred to the [Office of Police Accountability] and an investigation has commenced."
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best announced Thursday that it would require officers wear badges visibly, end an earlier imposed curfew, and stop using tear gas, according to CBS Austin. What protesters are calling for, however, is largescale change, including defunding police departments that brutalize citizens of color. Edwin Sanchez, Ayala's brother, told CBS Austin police brutality isn't just an issue that has affected his family. "It's not just my brother,” Sanchez said. “It's countless teenagers who look just like him. They're treating them like animals... like monsters and that's not okay.”
Ben Crump, an attorney for Floyd’s family, called the incident involving Wright “absolutely disgraceful.” “Really?! This cannot keep happening in America,” he said.
Minneapolis Council Member Jeremiah Ellison tweeted on June 4: “We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response. It’s really past due.”
Minneapolis Public Schools, the University of Minnesota, and Minneapolis Parks and Recreation have already severed ties with the city's police department, The Appeal reported. Bender, the council president, said its the council’s plan to follow suit.
“Our commitment is to do what is necessary to keep every single member of our community safe and to tell the truth that the Minneapolis Police are not doing that,” Bender said Sunday. “Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it, and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”
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