With the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, which sparked large-scale racial justice protests across the country, some in Connecticut are reflecting on the state’s own efforts to reform policing.
But driving from New Haven to Chicago recently, the Rev. Steven Cousin Jr. had something else on his mind.
“Every time I talk to my family, they’re telling me to ‘obey the speed limit, be careful, take care of yourself.’ You still have this fear. You don’t know if you get pulled over, if you’ll make it out alive,” said Cousin, pastor of Bethel AME Church in New Haven.
For Black men like Cousin, “we don’t have to wait for an anniversary to feel anxiety or concern.”
“We feel it every single day,” he said.
In the wake of Floyd’s death, Connecticut set out to make systemic changes to how law enforcement operates here. The result — a wide-reaching police accountability bill passed last summer — was hailed by supporters and advocates as a big legislative win.
But a year after Floyd’s death, it remains to be seen whether the ambitious legislation will translate to better policing as advocates have called for or remain just that — a lofty endeavor.
“An accountability bill isn’t going to make us feel any safer,” Cousin said. “You just hope there will be more responsibility and consequences for officers’ actions, but that fear doesn’t go away.”
While Cousin said he’s hopeful the law can lead to meaningful change, he also thinks of the legacy of civil rights and voting rights laws passed in the 1960s.
“We’re still fighting to preserve voting rights and our civil liberties,” he said. “You may have the laws in place, but if you don’t have the right...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/On-one-year-anniversary-of-George-Floyd-s-16200346.php
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