Dear friends,
I’m afraid it’s a mad Monday. Every time I come across the phrase Jim Crow 2.0, which keeps happening, I feel insanely angry. Maybe it’s the infuriating language of upgrade. Jim Crow is malware, and it needs to be eradicated.
Two years ago, a Louisiana State Police trooper beat a Black man with flashlight following a traffic stop. The body-camera footage was finally shown publicly last week, and it’s clear that Aaron Larry Bowman was pinned to the ground as he was pummeled by the white officer. He suffered multiple broken bones and a head wound.
Bowman was charged with resisting arrest and battery of a police officer. Yes, you read that right. Someone deliberately mislabeled the body-cam footage. Bowman has filed a civil rights suit filed against the Louisiana State Police.
Another Black man was dragged and badly beaten by state troopers; he died just three weeks before Bowman’s traffic stop. The police report made no mention of the use of force.
At least four troopers in Louisiana are facing charges related to excessive force.
These stories from Louisiana highlight a widespread problem: officers file false accounts of arrests, omitting or fabricating details which are contradicted by video evidence. This was true in the case of George Floyd’s murder; the original report stated that his death resulted from a “medical incident during police interaction.”
Police continue to lie and people — especially Black people — pay the price with their lives, their freedom (I am not speaking abstractly; I am referring to incarceration that results from false police reports), and their reputations.
“People shouldn’t think that it’s easy to bring a defamation suit against the police, because it’s hard — really hard,” [Lyrissa Lidsky, the dean of the University of Missouri School of Law and an expert in defamation law] said. Suing a city, government agency, police officer or member of Congress often comes with additional challenges for plaintiffs, such as the qualified immunity doctrine that shields government officials in some situations.
In many cases, citizens who are mentioned in a police department’s false account have sued over other matters, such as civil rights violations or negligence.
The term qualified immunity was in everyone’s vocabulary in June 2020, but if you’ve forgotten, here’s a plain-language definition from John Oliver:
A public official is immune from lawsuits unless their exact conduct has been ruled unconstitutional in a previous case.
In April 2021, a new law made New York City the first major city to ban qualified immunity for police officers who conduct unreasonable searches and seizures, which includes excessive force claims. Only a Supreme Court decision or a federal law can end qualified immunity throughout the nation.
Sign the petition to call on Congress to end qualified immunity.
We can’t talk about Jim Crow without thinking of voting rights. Right now is a time to invest in the future of democracy.
Join Fair Fight Action’s Hot Call Summer to get voting rights legislation passed and support their work with a donation.
Tens of thousands of Americans marched in DC and other cities this weekend to demand voting rights. These were peaceful protests and I read no reports of police violence or arrests, but voting rights struggles have been a battlefield for Black activists.
There is a new generation of Black activists serving time in US prisons because the local police and federal law enforcement work together to suppress social movements for peace and justice.
Sign the petition to the President and Congress to protect those who protest in defense of Black lives.
I’m not going to say a lot today about the need to build a care infrastructure except that we need to add our voices to the campaign for Paid Family and Medical Leave. It has never been more important than it is now.
Call on Congress to pass a permanent and comprehensive paid leave for all.
with love,
L