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Now Toledo’s Black Agenda
will be made available to local government agencies, along
with a host of private and public companies and entities in
order to gather community-wide support for the demands and
suggestions proposed in the report.
We will be printing
excerpts from the report over the next few weeks. The
following is McDuffie and Reese’s introduction along with
the executive summary and statistics from the Criminal
Justice pillar.
The entire report can be
read online at thetruthtoledo.com
THE TOLEDO BLACK AGENDA
Introduction
The racial inequity that exists today is the direct result
of “Structural racism,” a term that asserts our country is
steeped in policies, practices and culture that, either by
purpose or by indifference, exclude and oppress people of
color. While we recognize that racism affects all people of
color, this document was created by representatives of the
Black community for the Toledo Black community. It is our
response to the murder of George Floyd and to an ongoing
system of unrestrained and unrelenting racism in this
country toward Black people, a system that is moving a race
of people onto a path of genocide in plain view of the
entire country, without any organized and aggressive voices
being raised to stop it. This is our call to action to make
“Black Lives Matter.”
Across the United States, cities are declaring that racism
is a public health crisis. Toledo City Council and the Lucas
County Commissioners each, unanimously, passed the same such
declarations. These words truly represent a step in the
right direction. However, words in a declaration alone will
not institute change. Concrete actions must be planned and
executed to give credibility and effect to these
well-intentioned government decrees.
The broad term “Public Health Crisis” reflects significant
impacts on a community’s health, its life expectancy, and
its economy. Structural racism affects the health of Black
people in every aspect of their lives. Without
question, the
data and research make it clear that racism is a systemic
and ongoing public health crisis with serious consequences
for the health of Lucas County Black citizens. It is also
clear that racism has a profound and pervasive impact
across all the factors that shape our health. This includes
our healthcare delivery systems, education, housing, food,
economic, environmental, criminal justice and political
systems.
Uniform support, from all sectors of the community, of the
recommendations in this document along with zero tolerance
for inequity will drive momentum towards true, lasting and
effective change for the Black community in Greater Toledo.
Acknowledgements:
As the facilitators of
this process, we gratefully acknowledge the hard work, time
and talent of all the individuals who made this document
possible. The forming of the Unification Coalition proved
beneficial in our ability to organize and execute. For
roughly three months of intense weekly meetings, we have
done it!
Lisa McDuffie Robin Reese
Convener Co-convener
PART I: THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE/ POLICE REFORM PILLAR
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
According to the report to the United Nations on Racial
Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System (4/19/18),
the U.S. is a world leader in the rate of incarceration.
The flow of the Criminal
Justice system is policing, entry into the system,
prosecution and pretrial services, adjudication, sentencing,
sanctions and corrections, according to the Bureau of
Justice Statistics. As the NAACP pointed out in their
Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, the system is comprised of
three institutions: Law Enforcement, the Courts and
Corrections. It may seem as if these are simple steps to
follow, yet our
country’s criminal justice system is fundamentally broken.
While the universal statement is spoken that all people are
innocent until proven guilty, the reality of the operation
of the current system often renders a “guilty” verdict for
some before they are even tried and convicted.
“The American criminal-legal system is a stain on our
democracy. The system replicates and reinforces patterns of
racial and economic oppression that trace from slavery — and
the result is a criminal-legal bureaucracy that denies
millions of people the opportunities, legal equality, and
human rights they deserve while fueling the world’s highest
incarceration rate. Bringing fairness and dignity to our
legal system is one of the most profound civil and human
rights issues of our time.” Vision for Justice 2020 and
Beyond: A New Paradigm for Public Safety, September 2019.
This
Criminal Justice/Police Reform report focuses a great deal
on law enforcement; not because the other phases of the
Criminal Justice System are any less important, because they
certainly are, but because the primary impetus for the most
recent movement and global outcry for racial justice was
ignited as the world watched helplessly as George Floyd was
murdered by a police officer right in front of our eyes.
This unadulterated view into the everyday reality of so many
Blacks in this country sickened many, and motivated
countless others.
The very
entry into the Criminal Justice System occurs at the hands
of police officers. Racism exists in every aspect of our
society and in our systematic structures. When analyzed
closely, the disparate treatment of Black individuals by
some police officers have a lasting effect, that alters
their lives in ways not experienced at the same rate of any
other race.
There is no
question that significant reforms are needed in all phases
of the Criminal Justice System. This report simply touches
on just some of the data, systematic improvements and
recommended changes that need to be implemented if true
equity is to be achieved. This report is meant to start the
conversation and insist on action to eradicate these grave
injustices.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Statistically speaking, the NAACP national office provided
data at a glance:
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A Black person is five times more likely to be stopped
without just cause than a White person.
-
A Black man is twice as likely to be stopped without
just cause than a Black woman.
-
65% of Black adults have felt targeted because of their
race.
-
1,025 people have been shot and killed by police in the
past year.
-
There are somewhere between 900 and 1,100 people who are
shot and killed by police in the United States each
year.
-
Since 2005, 98 non-federal law enforcement officers have
been arrested in connection with fatal, on-duty
shootings. To date, only 35 of these officers have been
convicted of a crime, often a lesser offense such as
manslaughter or negligent homicide, rather than murder.
Only three officers have been convicted of murder during
this period and seen their convictions stand. Another 22
officers were acquitted in a jury trial and nine were
acquitted during a bench trial decided by a judge. Ten
other cases were dismissed by a judge or a prosecutor,
and in one instance no true bill was returned from a
grand jury. Currently, there are 21 non-federal law
enforcement officers with pending criminal cases for
fatal shootings.
-
Fatal police violence is the sixth leading cause of
death for men ages 25 to 29 across all racial groups.
-
The lifetime risk of dying from police violence is at
its highest from ages 20 to 35, and this applies to men
and women of all races.
-
On average, Black Americans are exposed to four police
killings of other unarmed Black Americans in the same
state each year.
-
Despite the fact that more white people have been killed
by police, Black people are disproportionately
impacted. While white people make up a little over 60%
of the population, they only make up about 41% of fatal
police shootings. Black people make up 13.4% of the
population but make up 22% of fatal police shootings.
This does not take into consideration other forms of
police brutality, including non-lethal shootings. (See
Info below)
The number of people shot to death by the police in the
United States from 2017 to 2020, by race.
| |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
|
White |
457 |
399 |
370 |
42 |
|
Black |
223 |
209 |
235 |
31 |
|
Hispanic |
179 |
148 |
158 |
13 |
|
Other |
44 |
36 |
39 |
3 |
|
Unknown |
84 |
204 |
202 |
13 |
| |
Source:
Statista
Racial bias coupled with police training that focuses on 110
hours of gun and defense skills and only 8 hours of basic
communication to deescalate is a major culprit (New York
Times, 6/13/20).
Law enforcement culture should embrace
a guardian—rather than a warrior—mindset to build trust and
legitimacy both within agencies and with the public. Most
people would believe police officers need guns, batons,
pepper spray and tasers. The
NY Times 6/19/20, reports that calls
to the police for service for 10 major US cities (including
one Ohio city) showed less than 2% were calls for violent
offenses, with most violent offense calls being at or below
1%. Over 80%
of offenses charged are
misdemeanors (Papers.ssrn.com).
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