What You Can Do To Promote Police Accountability

America, can you feel it? We are there. We have reached that incredibly important turning point. The verdicts against Derek Chauvin have sent sparks flying through the very atmosphere of our society.

That spark is gonna light and it’s gonna spread. It’s a new beginning. Police reform is going to happen. Black lives are damn well going to start mattering.

We need governement at every level to put policy in place. That is absolutely necessary. But many of us wonder what we can do to directly impact police accountability.

I suggest this: HOLD THE PHONE!

Image by janeb13 from Pixabay

CNN’s 5 Things reported, “Guilty verdicts in the George Floyd case have renewed hope of tangible police reform at state and national levels. The Senate’s top GOP negotiator has floated a compromise on the divisive issue of qualified immunity, which protects officers who don’t break the law against personal liability in civil suits. Sen. Tim Scott has proposed shifting accountability from officers to their departments. Democrats want some sort of reform deal done by the anniversary of Floyd’s death on May 25. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced a police reform bill with more deescalation training and better record-keeping.”

It is crystal clear that the heartwrenching video footage of George Floyd losing his life was paramount to the successful conviction of his murderer AND to the increased awareness and momentum about the necessity for polic reform.

The witness who captured the footage was a 17-year-old girl named Darnella Frazier. She showed extreme courage, fortitude, strength, and grit when she stood there holding that phone. Ultimately, her actions will change our world.

We must each do the same.

I was 16 the first time I stood up against a police officer. Two constables wheeled into the driveway to bust up a raucous teenage party. They came inside and told everyone to go home. Like everyone else, I had been drinking, which enabled me the courage to run my privileged mouth.

As the female office was shooing everyone out of the house and to their cars, I found my liquid courage and barked, “Great idea! Send a bunch of teenagers to their cars to drive home drunk!”

Back then cell phones were massive, cumbersome devices and they definitely weren’t “smart.” All I had was my voice and tendency to be lippy against authority. She dragged me out of that house by the arm and let me know who was in charge. I was lucky she didn’t do more.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if it would have been one of the black girls or black boys who spoke up. But none of them did. Being in a small Texas town, they probably knew better.

But dammit, they shouldn’t have to know better! We should ALL be granted the freedom to stand up against what is wrong.

We have to HOLD THE PHONE up against oppression, abuse of power, and wrongful agression. We have to document exactly what goes down so that there is no chance for facts to be misconstrued or misunderstood.

The police have open carry weapons in the form of firearms and tasers. We have phones. Our phones are OUR open-carry weapons against unlawful force. They are our defense against things going terribly, horribly wrong for us, for our fellow Americans, for black lives, for all lives.

So hold them up. Bear witness. Keep police officers in check. Hold them accountable. Use your device to de-escalate the situation yourself.

Be like Darnella, hold the phone and save lives.

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This post was previously published on Medium.

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