Thanks to Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in PA (https://www.lutheranadvocacypa.org/):
NOTE: You do not need to be Lutheran to use the links below.
Last week, the Pennsylvania House and Senate voted unanimously on two separate sets of bills to address policing reform in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, Eric Garner, and more, including 17-year-old Pennsylvanian Antwon Rose — all Black and unarmed.
Two bills could land on the governor’s desk next week before the Senate joins the House in summer recess.
Please send a note to your House member here and your senator here, thanking them for their support of these bills, urging them to get this legislation across the finish line and to keep Pennsylvania moving toward racial justice. We can’t stop now.
Senate Bill 459 would require police departments to track and report all instances of police use of force to the state police, who would make an annual report to the attorney general and legislature, including when that force led to death or serious injury. The bill, as written, would not make that report available to the public, and does not require tracking of the race, gender or ethnicity of people against whom force is used. Senate Bill 1205 would require all local police departments to create and post online a use-of-force policy and would limit use of chokeholds, such as was used in the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Although police trainers and the bill’s sponsor agree that the vast majority of local police do not use chokeholds, the purpose of the legislation is to create a circumstance in which it is “clearly unacceptable.” These bills head to the House, which is in recess until September 15.
On Wednesday, the House approved two policing reform bills of its own. House Bill 1841 would require employers to share employment information with a law enforcement agency conducting a background check of a job applicant, free previous employers from civil liability for releasing that information to the agency and create a confidential police misconduct database for use by other law enforcement agencies in hiring. House Bill 1910 would strengthen police training in interacting with people of diverse racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds, recognizing implicit bias, recognizing and reporting child abuse, and use of appropriate force. The bill would also improve access to mental health evaluations for law enforcement and require testing for post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of any lethal use of force. The Senate is expected to vote on these bills this week.
The police killing of Rose near Pittsburgh in 2018 prompted the introduction of similar reform measures that failed to get consideration until Black representatives took the dais on June 8 and demanded action.
This pending legislation begins to address one form of violence against Black lives. Yet, the legacy of hundreds of years of slavery and racism persists in every facet of American life. We see it in the disparities in food security, health, wealth, employment, incarceration, education, housing, access to voting, vulnerability to environmental threats, disasters and more. As the Senate hearings last week began to examine ways to undo systemic racism in policing, we call on our leaders to address systemic racism throughout our Commonwealth with intentionality starting now — not waiting until September. That includes data collection, reporting, and transparency as well as impact analysis of current policies and future legislation by indicators including race, gender, ethnicity and wealth.
Last Wednesday, the ELCA commemorated the Feast Day of the Emanuel Nine. This Wednesday, each chamber of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly took unanimous action to send the other legislation to begin to address racial bias and violence in policing. Last Friday, we celebrated Juneteenth, praying “for an end to racism, racial inequality and hatred in our nation, for an end to all forms of slavery and human trafficking in the world,” asking God’s grace to enable us to “serve as catalysts for change, reconciliation and healing.”
TODAY, let us take action in response to that prayer. Please send TWO messages. Tell the House and Senate to return to this task before September — we want to keep at this important work that has waited far too long.
Thank you for your advocacy!
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