Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Gadfly keeping an eye on what’s going on around us in regard to the “defunding” controversy. Around the time of our Community Engagement Initiative resolution there was talk of engaging discussions of how we do public safety early enough to perhaps engage change in the 2021 budget deliberations. Gadfly has heard nothing more about that and doesn’t sense that anything will happen. But Lehigh County Commissioner David Harrington did propose a budget amendment to defund the D.A.’s office and redistribute the money in according to “holistic” ideas. Unsuccessfully.

Advocating defunding the Lehigh County D.A.:

Selections from Ettore Angelo, “Your View: It’s time to reexamine Lehigh County’s criminal justice spending.” Morning Call, October 14, 2020.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

So Gadfly was instinctively inimical to the idea of abolishing the police, especially as it was sugar-coated in the conference session title as a “police-free future.”

But he was curious.

And eager to hear on what basis you could justify such an extreme idea.

And what put in its place.

He has slow-walked you (and him) through 7 posts in which the case was made (well, as much as you can do in a few conference minutes).

Herewith some Gadfly reflections:

• Gadfly was glad one of the presenters, the one he has focused on so far (we’ll pick up Lehigh Valley’s Ashleigh Strange later), was, though not local, actually working in the abolition trenches.
• Abolition — a police-free future — was not an academic or theoretical exercise for Peter VanKoughnett from Minneapolis; it was his primary work.
• This will surprise you, perhaps — Gadfly was surprised he was not a person of color.
• Peter was not only the whitest of white, he seemed very young, almost too young, and he exhibited a kind of vulnerability in manner — for instance, remarking how complicated the issues are, how humbled he felt at the complexity, how at times he had doubts regarding what he was representing.
• Gadfly’s mental stereotype of “the” male bomb-throwing abolitionist was busted.
• Peter did  not “argue” — there was a softness, a halting tentativeness to his delivery.
• Cynical Gadfly wondered if that was a strategy to disarm his audience, but, truth be told, the majority of the audience, unlike Gadfly, already leaned toward accepting abolition or something close to it and were looking for models and strategies to implement here.
• Peter was pretty much preaching to the choir.
• Also surprising to Gadfly was that the move toward abolition grew out of an in-depth study, grew out of a history of policing in Minneapolis from the very beginning — 150 years ago.
• In other words, again — though no doubt Peter’s group is allied to national movements — the reason for advocating abolition of policing in Minneapolis was not academic or theoretical. (Nor just being “hip,” as he said.)
• It was solidly rooted in a place. It was site-specific. It was organic. It was reality.
• The drive for abolition in Minneapolis grows out of Minneapolis history.
• It is not imposed on Minneapolis, not layered on from the outside.
• Gadfly has read the 2017 MPD150 report entitled “Enough is Enough.”
• That Minneapolis police history is ugly.
• As one of Peter’s slides indicates, the Minneapolis Police Department is under state investigation for civil rights abuses.
• And newspaper reports post-GeorgeFloyd indicate Minneapolis City Council members not part of the abolitionist movement using precisely abolitionist language.
• Not only using it, but acting on it in ways — proposing radical reconstruction of public safety, that is — that Gadfly has reported on before.
• City Council came on abolition on its own, saying, in effect, enough is enough.
• In other words, this policing system is unmistakably rotten, attempts to rehab it over time have failed, it’s not worth patching, and therefore it clearly needs to be scrapped.
• MPD150’s futility cycle grows out of historical analysis; it is no fabrication or fantasy.
• Enough is enough. The last straw.
• Gadfly gets it; abolition makes sense for Minneapolis.
• A third surprise for Gadfly is that abolition doesn’t mean immediate abolition as the word seems to suggest and as fearful critics have envisioned.
• Abolition is a process. Perhaps “devolving” or “phasing out” the police department would be a better term. Anarchy is not going to reign all of a sudden.
• But supposing a legitimacy for abolition in Minneapolis raises the question Gadfly has raised for us several times.
• What’s the situation in Bethlehem?
• “Has trust between the police department and the community broken down in Bethlehem?”
• From public commentary so far, Gadfly would have to say the answer is no.
• And if that trust is not broken, if the police department history is not a trainwreck, then certainly abolition will find no roots here.
• (Hmmm, parenthetically, a Bethlehem Moment on the inception of our police department seems to be in order.)
• We in Bethlehem may be in a mood to talk, if at all, about some reform but not about replacement.
• So, now knowing more about it, Gadfly’s thinking has enlarged to accept abolition in certain “enough is enough” circumstances but not as a general principle.

What are you thinking?

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

So, yes, there’s a little matter of a pandemic.

So, yes, there’s a little matter of a presidential election.

But Gadfly prefers to keep his focus narrowly local, where, as he has often said, he has hopes that a community feeling will act as a kind of adhesive bond as we discuss tough issues.

And, so, Gadfly is focusing on what is or should be our local response to public safety in the wake of the George Floyd murder.

We had a 6hr. Public Safety Committee meeting August 11. The police reported. Public interest was high. 27 people called in. 37 viewers stayed till the end. There were 237 YouTube views in total.

Then there were City Council meetings August 18, September 1, September 15, and October 6.

And we have heard nothing further.

But Gadfly has been preparing as if we are going to hear something, maybe discuss something.

And so he just spent 7 posts slow-walking through a presentation by a Minneapolis activist at the NCC “Peace and Social Justice” conference who is engaged in promoting the abolition of the police in his town.

An extreme position.

Gadfly is glad to understand that position more now.

But before he comments, he’d like to go back to where he started this abolition thread and consider his own personal interactions with the police. How did they turn out? Can he imagine an alternative to the police? Can he imagine a need for an alternative to the police?

He asked you to think about your own interactions with the police. (He’d especially like to hear about traffic stops.)

See how you feel now after hearing the abolitionist make his case.

Remember the question he asked us to think about, “whom do you call first?”

Here are some entries in the Gadfly police log (what’s in yours?):

• called police because Mrs. Gadfly had fallen, and he needed help: Mrs. G wasn’t hurt, but she couldn’t get up. She has spine and shoulder issues, so the possibility of aggravating injury was on his mind. It was nearly midnight. Gadfly could have called a friendly neighbor even though he was asleep, but, worried about aggravating injury, he felt he needed someone “professional.” Gadfly’s immediate thought was to call the police. Two jovial officers arrived, remarking at how many calls like this they get. They expertly applied a maneuver utilizing a blanket (who knew), and Mrs. G was upright in no time. In calling the police, Gadfly remembers thinking that they would probably refer the call or refer me somewhere else. But police seemed to be natural “first contact.”
• called because College students 3 houses away were partying outside and playing loud music: Gadfly had 6 children, boys, clustered compactly in age, Irish sextuplets. They were like a wolfpack. They made noise. Plenty of it. You’d think Gadfly would be tolerant. But he got old. And cranky. And he’s pissed that his neighborhood is changing, turning into rentals. Bringing less care to property upkeep. Bringing parking problems. So there’s tension between him and the students. He didn’t relish approaching 15-20 inebriated college students. Calling the police was his immediate reaction. Two officers arrived. They “sauntered” (carefully chosen SAT word, look it up) in a non-threatening manner into the yard party, and it quickly dialed down. The officers reported back to me that the City noise ordinance didn’t kick in for 3hrs, but that they got the students to agree to dampen the noise by shutting off the outside music. Nice work.
• called because a neighbor had a derelict vehicle parked for weeks on our residential street: friendly, non-confrontational, neighborly banter elicited promises to move the vehicle, but there were always excuses. Issuance of a ticket by a pretty serious imposing no-bullshit looking dude officer on a motorcycle immediately did the trick. Gadfly doesn’t remember thinking there was any other way to deal with this than call the police.
• called because a rabid cat had gotten into the cellar: well, we didn’t know it was rabid at first. It was just up in the rafters and hissed rather ferociously at attempts to get to it. The kids were scared. Gadfly isn’t sure that he even knew that there might be something called animal control, etc., for something like this, so he called the police. One officer arrived. He said the cat was foaming and obviously rabid. Only one thing to do. He shot the cat and disposed of it, who knows where.
• called because of “domestic disturbances” at a neighbor’s: Had to do this a couple times. A neighbor family sometimes gets into a gnarl. Loud, so loud that it becomes intolerable if it lasts a long time. And intense, serious, the kind of interaction in which you damn well expect eventual violence. So Gadfly has had to call the police. He is always asked if there are guns in the neighbor’s house. There are, and he says so. Multiple officers arrive, unbeknownst to the neighbors. One circles the house, checking things out. Another knocks on the door, firmly but not especially aggressively. The other officer or officers stand pretty relaxed a distance away. The main officer seems to identify the antagonists pretty quickly, and they voluntarily separate without force, going off to tell their “story” at a distance from each other to one of the officers. The officers hear them out. Gradually things calm down. At times the officers have provided guidance or legal direction about the sources of the arguments. Each of these domestic disturbances has ended well.

That’s a look at Gadfly’s tame life with the police.

Which is why his instinct was immediately antithetical to the idea of abolition but, as well, simultaneously intensely curious about how the case is made.

Would you want to share an example from your police log? Gadfly knows there must be a world of varied experience. He will publish anonymously, if you prefer, as long as he knows who you are and trusts you.

The idea is to think what life would be like without the police.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

Here’s an exercise that PV uses with workshop audiences that gets into the nitty-gritty of abolition and grounds it in reality. PV says the exercise shows you how complicated this all is.

He encourages people to choose a specific issue and then move through the chart, asking questions like what do we want to happen, what might we do to keep the issue from happening in the first place, what institutions might there be to handle the issue?

PV:

Then AS gives us a mental health scenario that we might witness and asks us to think it through per the chart.

Suppose you look out your window, and there’s a half-naked guy on your lawn gyrating crazily and singing.

Whom are you going to call?

And what outcome do you expect?

What happens if someone without a gun, a badge, a taser, mace shows up?

How would we expect a police officer to handle this?

AS:

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

Remember what we’re doing here in this string of posts.

We’re taking our time and listening to a police abolitionist. Hearing his case. So we can know it and have an informed opinion about it.

Crazy, right? Who else does this kind of thing?

in this section of his presentation, PV suggests that we ask ourselves what already exists in our town in lieu of calling the police.

So that the police or 911 is not necessarily the first place we call in certain circumstances.

And then that we put a list together.

Such as you see here below.

And put it on the fridge or home bulletin board.

And put the numbers in our phones.

And then these places would be targets for reallocated money from the police department budget.

Gadfly wonders if such a list is already available for Bethlehem/Northampton County. Anybody know?

Resources by city

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

Here PV confronts the efficacy of the “reform” stage in the Futility Cycle.

Our officers have had the much ballyhoo’d body cameras for about a year (considerable cost — were they paid for by a grant?), and it would be good to have a report on whatever impact and effect, if any, the cameras have had.

The abolitionists don’t see these kinds of reforms as particularly meaningful.

PV is quite Minneapolis site-specific here, indicating that Minneapolis has been the poster child for reform. Trying everything. Progressive. Cutting-edge.

But the reforms “haven’t done much at all.”

“Haven’t led to more accountability.”

Camera use “doesn’t lead to justice.”

This time we’re only looking for a minute of your listening time.

to be continued . . .

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

Followers should find this discussion familiar.

For it is Councilman Reynolds who in his discussion of systemic racism has asked us to think beyond the police department to other societal and cultural factors that create problems that the police are then asked to deal with.

PV has two responses to such questions.

First, abolitionists take a “deeper view” of how to fight crime. Fighting crime is not about just catching and punishing a criminal after the fact of the crime. It’s taking a “holistic view,” asking why someone is committing a crime in the first place. That is, addressing the cause of crime. We fund the police more than other institutions that support the people and if properly supported themselves would mitigate the reason for crime. But most abolitionists recognize the need that there be a “subset of civil servants” who handle forceable intervention when necessary. Most abolitionists are open to that. Most police don’t actually fight crime or work to stop crime.

Though PV said he has two responses, Gadfly doesn’t see that he gave a second one.

Time for your 2-minute drill again. Aww, make it 3 this time.

So Gadfly was kinda surprised with this part of the presentation. It’s familiar territory that he didn’t expect to find.

to be continued . . .

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

“Defunding the police,” “abolishing the police” are loaded terms.

Bound to raise hackles, bound to stiffen spines, bound to clench fists.

Gadfly wishes he could slap the coiners of these terms upside the head.

So we’re trying to get beyond the knee-jerk reaction to see how the holders of these positions explain themselves.

Here’s a common question.

PV’s answer to this “common fear” is to indicate that there is divergence in the abolition movement about how fast it would happen.

Some think of it as a “snap-your-fingers” kind of happening. Abolish the police and see what happens.

But, PV says, the majority view is that abolishing is a gradual process while building alternate institutions and diverting funds to “other concrete things.”

There’s a kind of sorting process, acknowledging the need to keep some things that police departments do but not others.

There’s a time for figuring out how to protect people, that is, what the police department claims to do and sometimes does.

In short, abolishing the police is a process characterized by careful thinking.

Over time, the current police department would be phased out.

Spend another 2 minutes with PV:

What are you thinking?

to be continued . . .

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

We’re looking at how the case is made for abolition of the police department at the NCC “Police-Free Future” panel.

Peter VanKoughnett’s chart is the key representation of the need for abolition, of the need for a new structure of policing in Minneapolis.

PV and his group are actively working toward a new structure for the Minneapolis police department. His group formed in 2017 — interesting that this movement to abolish the existing police structure in Minneapolis began well before George Floyd. PV’s experience, his motivation, his research is site-specific to Minneapolis.

PV studied the 150-year history of policing in Minneapolis. He finds it rather sordid. It began in town patrols with an anti-Union function and which harassed working people, the native population, and people of color. These groups gradually became incorporated into the city structure, rough and undisciplined at first but becoming more professional as time went on — but their function remained basically the same.

Especially since the 1960s, his research shows this “Futile Cycle of Police Reform” — the most important finding of his historical research.

• The police do something obviously bad, some act of brutality, maybe a murder.
• The public reacts with outrage and protest for change, for reform.
• Some kind of reform happens, for instance, new training, new techniques, new equipment, a review board, etc., sometimes increasing the size of the department — but never touching the core issues that lead to violence.
• There follows a period of stagnation and backsliding.
• Then every 5-10 years there is another outrageous occurrence.
• And the cycle starts again.
• So abolition is a way to break the cycle.

PV: “It’s really humbling,” when we see the same things happening over and over again. . . . “It doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten anywhere.” . . . Abolition is a way to break that cycle. . . . “The cycle isn’t working for us. It’s just perpetuating violence.”

Listen to PV for 2 minutes:

Ashley Strange sees the cycle in our neighborhood. After the Floyd murder, there was a clamor for police departments to reform by adopting the well known “8 Can’t Wait” principles. Departments like Allentown (and Bethlehem too) claimed that they were already using “8 Can’t Wait,” and yet, says AS, Allentown quickly saw the incident at Sacred Heart Hospital where the officer had a knee on a guy’s neck. So, she would claim, where did that reform get us? For her, Allentown just witnessed the cycle PV was talking about.

Listen to AS for 2 minutes:

Are you with Gadfly so far?

The basic premise for abolition seems to be that reform is demonstrably futile, clearly pointing to the need for a new structure altogether. Not reform but replacement.

Gadfly, as usual, will wait to critique till he has laid out the rest of the case to be made for abolition.

But he invites your responses along the way.

to be continued . . .

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference

Police-Free Future panel, October 15, 2020
video

The murder of George Floyd initiated (another) national reckoning with race. Cities around the country are or should be examining how they do public safety as part of that national reckoning with race.

Gadfly has been trying to school himself on the various ideas in the wind (and sometimes on the table) regarding reimagining police departments.

Some of it he gets, some he doesn’t.

The idea of a police-free future (a less immediately confrontational term than “abolishing the police”!) is one of the ideas he doesn’t get.

What can people possibly mean by abolishing the police?

Gadfly’ll bet that many followers have asked the same question in a kind of bewilderment.

So he was very interested in this panel at the NCC “Peace and Social Justice” conference on Wednesday (video link above).

And Gadfly will take a post or two or three to make the case for abolishing the police as he understood it from attending the panel presentation.

Let’s see what we think about it.

————

First, though, about the panel members:

The presenters were out-of-towner Peter VanKoughnett of MPD150 and the ever more familiar Ashleigh Strange of Lehigh Valley Stands Up. Peter is from Minneapolis — George Floyd ground-zero — and his organization title refers to the 150-year history of the Minneapolis Police Department.

“MPD150 is a community-based initiative challenging the narrative that police exist to protect and serve. MPD150 is a participatory, horizontally-organized effort by local organizers, researchers, artists, and activists to shift the discussion around police and policing in Minneapolis from one of procedural reforms to one of meaningful structural change. It is not the project of any organization. We stand on the shoulders of the work that many organizations have been doing for years, and welcome the support of everyone who agrees with our approach. We hope that the process we are developing will help organizers in other cities establish practical abolitionist strategies.”

MPD150 is

• shifting the discussion from police reforms to structural change
• developing practical abolitionist strategies

“The purpose of MPD150 is to change the story of policing in Minneapolis in order to set in motion a process for dissolving the Minneapolis Police Department.”

“Lehigh Valley Stands Up (LVSU) is a grassroots organization formed by leaders throughout the Lehigh Valley. Together we will build a multi-racial working class force for transformative political change in the Lehigh Valley, making a difference on issues and in elections in the years ahead.”

“We are focused on holding our elected and appointed leaders accountable for their actions and exposing corruption in every level of government. We want to divest from institutions that have harmed our communities and invest in equitable solutions that will benefit everyone.”

to be continued . . .

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference
October 13-15

Thursday schedule

Gadfly’s attended 9 sessions of the conference so far. Nothing else is getting done. The dishes are overflowing the sink.

Gadfly’s special pick on today’s schedule is this film at 6:30pm. Several people familiar to the Gadfly blog are involved:

• Jennie Gilrain directed the H.D. play “The Secret” in last year’s Festival UnBound
• Rayah Levy, the BAPL librarian, is guiding the “Courageous Conversations”
• We profiled poet Cleveland Wall earlier this year

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

“The share devoted to handling violent crime is very small, about 4 percent.”

So Gadfly is hoping that Bethlehem will take this cultural moment — the death of George Floyd + the installation of a new Police Chief — to do an in-depth review of policing in Bethlehem.

Which is not to suggest that there is something wrong in the department.

But the Floyd murder changed things.

At least for some people.

It was interesting to see at the October 6 City Council meeting that, as reported here earlier, two Councilors viewed a routine matter through a different lens, though one didn’t.

For some of us, the culture moved May 25.

We see the world through a different lens.

It’s time to take stock of what we are doing, public-safety-wise.

Gadfly hopes and would assume that a review of public safety would be an issue in the not-too-far away Mayoral and Council elections.

But before we begin discussing abolition, defunding, re-imagining, it makes sense to ask what the police do.

It might be good to stop and reflect for a minute on examples of situations when you called the police. And to ask if the police were necessary in those cases.

Gadfly remembers recently:

• calling because Mrs. Gadfly had fallen, and he needed help
• calling because College students 3 houses away were partying outside and playing loud music
• calling because a neighbor had a derelict truck parked for weeks on the street
• calling because a rabid cat had gotten into the cellar

Could that business have been better, more efficiently, less expensively handled in another way?

Ha! Maybe your life is more exciting than mine.

But it makes sense to ask the questions, what do police do, and is it necessary for them to do it.

So here’s a story from the New York Times.

It may be controversial because of the source, or the data, or a narrow vision.

Gadfly invites your response to the article.

But, also, mainly, think of your interactions with the police.

———-

Jeff Asher and Ben Horwitz, “How Do the Police Actually Spend Their Time?” New York Times, June 19, 2020

A review of publicly available data in three areas reveals that much of an officer’s job revolves around handling routine calls rather than violent crime.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

ref: “It’s time to stop the war on Police”

Remember this case?  It relates to the kind of deadly incidents people have in mind when they talk about defunding the police, abolishing the police, re-imagining how we do public safety.

Gadfly has been attending NCC’s “Peace and Social Justice” conference the past two days (and today as well) and will be posting on 2-3 of the sessions.

The story here might act as a refresher for Gadfly’s posts about the NCC conference.

See the video (with the Lancaster police contextual description) of this Lancaster event here.

Selected from Mark Scolforo, “District attorney says police justified in fatal shooting of knife-wielding man in Lancaster.” Morning Call, October 14, 2020.

A police officer acted appropriately last month in shooting to death a Lancaster man who was wielding a knife at the officer and chasing him after his sister called 911 for help, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said there will not be criminal charges for the Sept. 13 death of Ricardo Munoz, whose shooting outside his home in the city was captured on police body camera footage that was previously released to the public.

Munoz, 27, who was on bail at the time, awaiting trial on charges he stabbed four people last year, was seen on the video brandishing the knife at the unnamed officer. The hunting-style knife had a 5-inch blade.

“Based on my review of the facts and the applicable law, there is no question, no question that the officer was justified in the use of deadly force,” Adams said. She said the four shots that killed Munoz were a restrained response, given the imminent threat to the Lancaster City police officer.

She said one of Munoz’s sisters called 911 to say Munoz was being very aggressive and needed help, that he had punched a car and had “mental problems.” The sister told 911 that her mother was afraid.

Another sister has told investigators that at about the same time, she called crisis intervention in neighboring Lebanon County and the nonemergency number for Lancaster police, Adams said.

The first responding officer parked in an alley a short distance away and came to the door. Munoz soon appeared and came out of the home rapidly, brandishing the knife. Adams said there was no interaction or exchange of words, giving the officer about 4 seconds to respond while Munoz chased him.

“He retreats, he confirms that the threat is still imminent and he reacts” with gunfire, Adams said. The officer had no time or opportunity to attempt to de-escalate, she said.

Michael Perna, a lawyer for the Munoz family, said the prosecutor’s decision dismayed the family but did not surprise them. He called it a “wholly preventable killing” and described the investigation as flawed.

The fatal shooting prompted demonstrations in Lancaster, including rioting that damaged the city police headquarters and other downtown buildings, and an arson fire that blocked an intersection.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Peace and Social Justice Conference
October 13-15

Thursday schedule

Gadfly’s attended 6 sessions of the conference so far. Nothing else is getting done. The dishes are piling up in the sink.

Gadfly’s special pick on today’s schedule is this film at 6:30pm. Several people familiar to the Gadfly blog are involved:

• Jennie Gilrain directed the H.D. play “The Secret” in last year’s Festival UnBound
• Rayah Levy, the BAPL librarian, is guiding the “Courageous Conversations”
• We profiled poet Cleveland Wall earlier this year

But there’s lots more. Take a look at the full Thursday schedule (link above).

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Here are some documents shared at the NCC conference yesterday.

The Tukeva statement from which title line of this post comes reminds me of the words of Councilman Reynolds pitching the Community Engagement Initiative to us, words that turned the Gadfly on, words that made him buzz bitchily a couple days ago at what seemed a delay in getting the unpacking going:

“Open Letter on Racial Justice,” Michael B. Tukeva, Pocono Mountains United Way

The same organization also produced a wonderful set of resources. Gadfly keeps saying that there’s knowledge aplenty abounding on our national reckoning on race. No excuse for anybody unsensitized to the scope of racial issues that beset us.

See: Racial Equity Resources

Gadfly especially likes Resources for white parents to raise anti-racist children,

What are you reading that informs your thinking about racism, about equity, about systemic racism?

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Social Justice and Peace Conference
October 13-15

Wednesday schedule

Gadfly attended three sessions of the conference yesterday with interest and profit. Sorry, he hasn’t had time to cull a few clips for you yet.

Here are the sessions I’m going to try to attend today. I’m just picking the ones that look like they will be helpful if we start into any reimagining of the way we do public safety here in Bethlehem. You may be interested in others.

I know I can’t make the first one below. If anyone can record the 9:30 session, it would be much appreciated. For I am especially interested in this first one. I really don’t get how abolishing the police is going to work. That’s a steep climb. That’s a big stretch. So I’m particularly interested in how that gets pitched. Isn’t that the big one? The one that almost everybody has a hard time getting their mind around. I get the idea of defunding, though I’d need to see a way that it works. But abolishing the police doesn’t compute at all.

9:30-10:45 PANEL: Towards a Police Free Future: Peter VanKoughnett (MPD 150), LVSU – Lehigh Valley Stands Up):In this session, Peter will present an overview of MPD150’s work – a history of the Minneapolis Police department’s oppressions, theories of abolition, and tools to practice abolitionist thinking.  Ashleigh will present on Lehigh Valley Stands Up and particular policies which bring us closer to a police free future.”

11:00-12:15: Black Lives Matter: Black Lives Matter (BLM) Lehigh Valley will be covering issues such as our fight against systemic and oppressive racism within multiple channels, how to make change at the local level, and what defunding the police really means.  Justan Parker (LV BLM)

3:30-4:45: The unspoken emotional effect of “surviving the skin we’re in:” As Black Americans we live under a constant threat in America. And the burden of imparting and interpreting this to our children is unfair.Nah-tarsha Cherry, Mary Elizabeth O’Connor (Bethlehem NAACP)

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

The 2020 NCC Social Justice and Peace Conference
October 13-15

Gadfly attended the “Police Brutality” session at the NCC conference this morning. It was quite informative. Among the 60-some attendees, Gadfly noted several followers, two, in fact, contributing high quality comments. Gadfly hopes to post some clips before the day is out. The technical set-up of the conference is quite sophisticated, enabling various means of participating.

The next session Gadfly is going to try to attend is on the July protest in Palmerton. I understand there’s video to be seen. Bethlehem has had several demonstrations, and we’ve prided ourselves that they were calm and peaceful. Not so in Palmerton, I gather. Should be valuable discussion.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Many sessions speak to matters on our table as we join the nation reckoning with race

Good opportunity to be informed about issues of national and local relevance

The 2020 NCC Social Justice and Peace Conference
October 13-15

“Our focus this year is on racial justice, specifically the intersections of race and policing, the criminal justice system, incarceration, climate justice, voting, democracy, immigration, education, and trauma. We are spotlighting local activists and organizations fighting for social justice in the Lehigh Valley, including, among many others: LV Black Lives Matter, LV Stands UP, Action Town Activists, and our local chapters of the ACLU and NAACP.”

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Gadfly, as usual, keeping an eye on what’s happening around us. Gerlach and Siegel would be called “defunders.” A time of extensive retirements would be a good time to think about “re-imagining.” We have had no discussion of policing, at least visible to the public, since August 11, the public meeting about which there has still been no official feedback. Gadfly has not sensed any push for defunding/re-imagining here.

Selections from Andrew Wagaman, “With two City Council members objecting, Allentown hires 11 police officers ahead of expected retirement wave.” Morning Call, October 10, 2020.

Allentown hired 11 police officers this week, and some officials hope to bring more on board in anticipation of a looming retirement wave.

City Council voted 5-2 on Wednesday to bring on 11 patrolmen at a starting salary of $60,807 each. Joshua Siegel and Ce-Ce Gerlach, who voted no, argued that the action is fiscally irresponsible and runs counter to their goal of re-imagining the city’s public safety initiatives.

The recruitment class will, at least temporarily, bring the police department up to full staff (222 officers) for the first time in several years, city police Chief Glenn Granitz Jr. said. It will also enable the department to tap a 3-year-old, $750,000 federal grant to hire six additional officers specifically for community policing.

“We have made it a priority to utilize this grant in order to again attain actual community policing in Allentown,” Granitz said Friday.

The department will be recruiting intensely for a while. Thirty officers are eligible to retire with a pension at the end of this year, and another 40 will become eligible by the end of 2021, when Allentown’s police contract also happens to expire.

Council President Daryl Hendricks, a former Allentown police captain, said he expects at least 11 officers to retire by the end of the year, and fears another 30 or more will choose to retire by the end of 2021. He blamed it on a nationwide “climate of negativity toward police.”

“Many people say to me, ‘I don’t understand why anyone would want to be a police officer anymore,’” Hendricks said. “Unfortunately, many people in our ranks across the country feel that way, too, and the first opportunity they get to retire, they are doing so.”

City Council passed a bill earlier this year that allowed the police department to actively recruit previously certified officers who do not have to attend the city police academy, cutting about eight months of training before they can hit the streets.

The department’s existing hiring process meet the standards outlined in a recently passed state bill related to background checks. The bill requires police departments to disclose to other departments their officers’ employment histories, including disciplinary actions, complaints and reasons for separation, if applicable.

Gerlach said she voted against the additional police hires because it came less than two weeks before City Council and Mayor Ray O’Connell’s administration commence 2021 budget negotiations.

During those negotiations, Gerlach vowed to pursue “budgetary, policy and protocol changes” within the department establishing a “more holistic approach” to public safety. This includes reallocating some police budget toward funding other professionals who Gerlach believes would be better suited to handle “social service calls” related to mental health incidents, drug and alcohol abuse, and homelessness issues.

“I think a more appropriate time to discuss items with large budgetary impacts is during the budget season,” she said. “We need to prevent crime, which means investments in education, housing and employment opportunities.”

Dismissing community policing as a “buzzword,” Siegel said he doesn’t believe simply increasing the presence of police in a given neighborhood will prevent crime or even lead to more crimes being solved. The city, he said, should instead focus on addressing the social inequities that actually drive crime — like a lack of affordable housing, treatment services and recreational opportunities for youth.

[Gerlach and Siegel] also introduced a resolution calling for a slew of police reforms, including departmental funding cuts, reflecting a nationwide debate following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in May.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Gadfly again just keeping an eye on what’s happening close by. Northampton County has had 2 such summits, none recently. Would it be a good idea to do something like this locally?

Race, Relations, and Rhetoric
Transformation Church LV

Selections from Kayla Dwyer, “‘It shouldn’t be us vs. them’: Lehigh County police, communities of color both feel pain, have to work together for same goal, panel says.”

The colors black and blue have come to represent division in the national conversation around race and police brutality. In a Lehigh County town hall Tuesday night, panelists considered the colors in a different way: bruising.

As four local police chiefs and four community leaders of color put it during the livestreamed panel Black and Blue: Race, Relations, and Rhetoric, the bruising is felt by both law enforcement and the communities they serve, and improving relations between the two are an essential step to healing.

“It shouldn’t be us versus them,” South Whitehall Township police Chief Glen Dorney said. “We all have the same goal.”

But trust has been broken, not just with recent events but through hundreds of years of systemic problems, said Michael Comick, a prison chaplain and a mentor with the Allentown youth program Midnight Basketball. “And it needs to be rebuilt one life at a time.”

The eight panelists are part of a larger working group that came together on the heels of the unrest following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of police, which prompted a national racial reckoning. Local police chiefs reached out to community stakeholders to have conversations about policing in the county, and the group has met once a month for the last four months, Dorney said.

Its approximately 30 members represent a diverse cohort, including Black, Hispanic and religious communities, students and law enforcement, Olmeda said.

Similar efforts are underway in Northampton County, where leaders in law enforcement and communities of color have held two “listening summits” on issues surrounding community policing and reform, with the goal of finding ways to improve the relationship between police and communities of color. At the second summit in August, District Attorney Terry Houck said the conversation would continue in smaller groups.

Key to rebuilding trust, panelists said, is finding ways to reveal the humanity behind both uniforms and front doors. Comick said the children he mentors see police in a different way once they get to know and talk to them. But they’re conditioned by hundreds of years of systemic racism to feel nervous around police as the default.

“They’re human just like we are,” Comick said. “There’s bad on both sides of the fence. But the good on both sides of the fence must work together.”

Part of working together, like during the meetings of the working group, has meant uncomfortable confrontations. Mayfield said he challenged members of law enforcement in the group with recognizing systemic problems and taking their opportunity to make changes.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Gadfly just keeping an eye on what’s happening around us involving police and racism in the post-GeorgeFloyd period. He is not suggesting that there is racism within the Bethlehem Police Department, but he has suggested that this is the appropriate time for more of a review of department practices and policies than has occurred in this time of inflected concern over police/community relations.

Selections from Rudy Miller, “Easton cop called Michelle Obama ‘black chimp,’ another kept racial-profiling log, suit filed by fellow cop says.” lehighvalleylive.com, October 8, 2020.

A former Easton police lieutenant called Michelle Obama a “black chimp” online and a sergeant kept a photo log of Black individuals for the purpose of racial profiling, according to a lawsuit filed by a Black Easton police officer.

The lawsuit says [George] Lockett endured “over a decade of unfair, abusive, and sometimes threatening behavior” from police supervisors. He was the only Black city officer during most of his tenure starting in 2006, the lawsuit says.

“As in all internal matters the city takes any complaint seriously,” Campos said. “The city has thoroughly investigated Officer Lockett’s complaints and denies any allegations.”

“The City of Easton … takes any and all complaints of mistreatment, bias and discrimination seriously and have acted swiftly and decisively when such conduct has occurred. So too were Officer Lockett’s various complaints, which he believed to be true, taken seriously and thoroughly examined by the city both internally and through an outside investigation, and were shown to be unfounded,” MacMain said in an email.

The lawsuit says [Tom] Smith made the online comment about Michelle Obama in 2015. He also called a Black Nebraska state senator a “scrawny little monkey” in an online comment that same year, the suit says.

The lawsuit says Smith was apparently not disciplined. Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. allegedly told the crowd at a public forum on racial profiling that Smith had been fired. He made the comment at Greater Shiloh Church in 2016, the lawsuit says. Smith actually retired and is collecting a pension, the lawsuit says.

The suit says [Stephen] Homoki kept a “patrol photo log” of mostly Black individuals, many of whom had never been arrested. The book served no legitimate purpose since the department has a separate log of booking photos, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Homoki told others, “Bottom line: if he’s Black, stop him and take his picture.” The lawsuit says a supervisor investigated the photo log and found no issue with it.

Lockett also took issue with comments made by Captain Matthew Lohenitz. According to the lawsuit, Lohenitz asked a Latino officer watching TV, “Can you understand that or do you need subtitles?” He also allegedly asked an officer listening to rap to “turn down the jungle music.”

 “Racial and discriminatory language and conduct is offensive to Easton officials and is not tolerated.  But, it is equally offensive to make false allegations of discriminatory language and conduct as it unfair to those falsely accused. The city will vigorously defend this lawsuit,” [David] MacMain said.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

City Council Meeting, October 6, video

“I have a few questions. I know we done this before. But for some reason 2020 feels a little different. Today it feels a little different.”
Councilwoman Negron

“It just feels different now than it has in the past.”
Councilman Reynolds

There was a rather remarkable moment during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

About 15 remarkable moments, in fact.

Nothing to do with the anointing of Chief Kott.

It was the summoning of George Floyd.

For 15 minutes the tragic spirit of George Floyd hovered over Town Hall.

Without being named.

We were in the ho-hum Resolutions part of the agenda.

When, especially because we’re attending from home, you can take a leisurely bathroom or soda break.

You know, the time of the meeting when wireless leases are approved and sewer contracts allotted.

Routine.

Resolution 10.b was approval for retired Chief DiLuzio to purchase his firearm for $300. (video min. 43)

In his two years on duty, Gadfly had seen this kind of thing whistled through several times.

Routine.

Not tonight.

Councilwoman Negron’s “Yes, I have a few questions” interrupted the rhythm of routine.

“I know we done this before,” she said, “but for some reason 2020 feels a little different. Today it feels a little different.”

She went on to ask in a slowish, probing way such things as how much the gun cost, what the “life” of a gun was, whether the officer’s badge number was on it, have we ever denied such a request, what do we do with the old guns, do we buy new guns for new officers.

The answers did not always come quickly — answerers were taken by surprise, Gadfly thinks, answers were not always at the ready.

It felt to Gadfly like there was some awkwardness.

And Councilwoman Negron did not seem to be in a hurry. There were brief pauses. As if she were thinking. She seemed to be shuffling around something. Like a person in bare feet around a snake.

Gadfly thought he could feel audience bewilderment oozing through his computer screen (there were 25 or so of us watching).

What was she up to? Where was she going with this? Could she really be worried about the expense involved? Was she going to vote no?

Comeback for Chief DiLuzio did flash through Gadfly’s mind.

But then the explanation came, unexpectedly, like finally finding lost keys in the bottom of a coat pocket: “I just think that in 2020, with so many incidents that have happened across the nation, and to me, you know, I guess I feel it closer because people that look like me have been killed by one of those guns, so it’s something that I would like for us to think about . . . but I also want to look at the budget, the cost, are we really doing something that makes sense if the guns need to be saved for the officers we need to hire?” (video min. 50:30)

Gadfly choked on a sob.

“I guess I feel it closer . . . People that look like me . . . have been killed by one of those guns . . . something that I would like for us to think about.”

An aching heart had just opened a crack.

An aching heart that would soon be tread on.

Councilwoman Negron did not suggest voting no on the resolution but ended with anticipation of future discussion with the Chief.

However, sensing only a slur or a slight against retired Chief DiLuzio — with whom Councilwoman Negron may not have always been on the best of terms — Councilman Callahan sprang to the retired Chief’s defense: “I don’t know why this was brought up tonight. You know, I’m a little appalled at Councilwoman Negron’s comments about the use of a gun in murders and things like that. The Chief has, DiLuzio, he has served our city, honorably, for 25 years. And we have all on Council voted for dozens and dozens of guns to be sold to the retiring officer as a momento. And they’re paying the market share for it, the market price of it. And to question it now, to me, I think it’s disgusting that you would even bring this up at a time like this when he’s leaving our department after all those years of service and make the comments that you just made.” (video min. 51:38)

Councilman Callahan appalled and disgusted at Councilwoman Negron.

Gadfly gasped.

Gunfight at the OK Corral. Wyatt v. Ike Clanton. Been here before with these two. And it’s usually not pretty.

And then Councilman Reynolds intervened (video min. 52:58).

We’ve done 19 or 20 of these sales since 2018 when the practice of bringing approval to Council started, he said, “but this is the first one we’re selling since June.” Referring like Councilwoman Negron to you-know-what. George Floyd was murdered May 25.

And this is not the first time that the practice of selling the guns has been scrutinized, for Councilman Reynolds recalled that he had previously asked Chief DiLuzio to direct the sale money to anti-gun or other community initiatives, but nothing was ever done.

“It just feels different now than it has in the past,” said Councilman Reynolds, the white Anglo-Saxon Councilman Reynolds, agreeing with Latina Negron, and reflecting, it seems to Gadfly, a felt awareness of how the George Floyd murder has altered sensibilities about policing, about violence, about race.

“It’s important to mention that this is the first [sale] we’ve had since June, and it’s also something that we have brought up before as far as the message it is sending, [though] it obviously has the potential because it’s the Chief to appear as if it is something else.”

“I do echo some of Councilwoman Negron’s concerns,” said Councilman Reynolds, and Gadfly took his comment to mean more than just the budget concerns.

So Councilman Reynolds did not recommend voting no on this resolution, but he asked the new Chief to “entertain” the idea of directing sale money in the future to anti-gun violence.

To anti-gun violence.

“We should be taking that money, and we should be putting it toward things that we can be proud of.”

Remarkable.

Just remarkable.

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

Many sessions speak to matters on our table as we join the nation reckoning with race

The 2020 NCC Social Justice and Peace Conference
October 13-15

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

ref: Doing Democracy on the South Bethlehem Greenway

Let’s have some relevant fun!

Refresh yourself on the situation by clicking on the link above.

Role play.

What is the woman saying? Now caption the image.

Does mouthing her words put you in the anti-racist mood?

Latest in a series of posts in the wake of the George Floyd murder

South Bethlehem Greenway @ Buchanan

Danny Lyon, “As Demonstrators Block Traffic to Protest Segregation,” 1963

Commentary by Grace Vigorito and Tracie Dinh

Atlanta 1963. People protesting segregation by blocking traffic are met with a mob aiming at disrupting the protest. An unknown uninvolved woman jumps in to confront one of the mob and voice her support for the Blacks. She joins the protest when she is taunted with “If you feel that way, why don’t you just marry one of them?”

Which invites a Sunday morning reflection on what in the way of anti-racist acts we have done lately.

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