Resisting Police Violence - The Ongoing Racial Pandemic

The public execution of George Floyd by the police, along with the murders of Ahmaud Arvery, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade are but the latest in the unending litany of acts of state-sanctioned violence against our people. Long before COVID-19, Black people have had to resist the racial pandemic of white supremacy that has underwritten ongoing acts of terror and the blatant refusal of the state to hold the perpetrators accountable.

We have seen this pattern before. Yet, this is a historical moment, not because these tragic acts are exceptional, but because of the people's righteous refusal to accept them as normal and to resist, even in the context of a major pandemic that has fallen so heavily on Black communities. As lawyers, community organizers and activists committed to Black liberation, we must recognize the current imperative to align ourselves with those giving voice to the critique and the vision that we need to protect Black life.

This is a time to deepen our understanding of the historical and contemporary role of the police as guardians of racial capitalism. And it's a time to reflect on what's different about this moment of revolt. It is a time to reflect on what's different about this moment of revolt. 

It's a time to consider how recent legal developments have entrenched rather than constrained racist policing practices, and to protect against federal and state suppression of the constitutional right to protest. And it's a time to explore community initiatives to control the police and to consider how they can be adapted elsewhere.

In this webinar, an expert panel provided context for the curren crisis, discuss recent developments in the cases of Ahmaud Arvery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDate, George Floyd, and community strateties that address the demands of systemic change.

THE PROGRAM

MODERATOR - Annette Ensley

National Conference of Black Lawyers

FRAMING: 

Margaret Burnham

• University Distinguished Professor of Law, Northeastern University
• Black Resistance: From Slavery Abolition to Police Abolition

 Cheryl Harris 

• Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Professor in Civil rights and Civil LIberties
• University of California at Los Angeles School of Law
• Police Murder: Racial Meaning and Racial Capitalism

LEGAL MATTERS: 

Geraldine S. Hines 

• Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, ret
• Visiting Professor, Boston College Law School
• Police Accountability and Federal and State Authority: Current Issues

 Lennox S. Hinds 

• Professor Emeritus, Program in Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, ret
• Global Human Rights Remedies and American Police Crimes

 R. Gary Spencer 

• R. Gary Spencer, PC, Atlanta, GA
• Legal Developments: The cases of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floyd

COMMUNITIES IN STRUGGLE: 

Nana Gyamfi 

• Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
• Community Strategies to Control Racist Policing