Former President Barack Obama urged mayors across the country to review use-of-force policies in their cities amid large-scale protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
In a virtual town hall hosted by the Obama Foundation, the former president asked local elected officials to seek input from members of their community and commit to police reforms.
“What are the specific steps you can take?” he asked Wednesday. “We need mayors, county executives, others who are in positions of power to say this is a priority.”
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. His death sparked protests calling attention to police brutality and racial inequality. In some cases, those protests have become violent, resulting in property damage, looting, and clashes with law enforcement.
All four officers involved in his detainment last week are now facing charges.
During his opening remarks, Obama encouraged mayors to sign a pledge to commit to four actions:
2. ENGAGE your communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories in your review.
3. REPORT the findings of your review to your community and seek feedback.
4. REFORM your community’s police use of force policies.
In a piece shared on Medium earlier this week, Obama advised voters unhappy with the criminal justice system to pay attention to local and state elections and make specific demands so that it would be harder for “elected officials to just offer lip service to the cause and then fall back into business as usual once protests have gone away.”
“It’s mayors and county executives that appoint most police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining agreements with police unions,” he wrote. “It’s district attorneys and state’s attorneys that decide whether or not to investigate and ultimately charge those involved in police misconduct. Those are all elected positions. In some places, police review boards with the power to monitor police conduct are elected as well. Unfortunately, voter turnout in these local races is usually pitifully low, especially among young people — which makes no sense given the direct impact these offices have on social justice issues, not to mention the fact that who wins and who loses those seats is often determined by just a few thousand, or even a few hundred, votes.”
Obama’s focus on improving police-community relations on Wednesday stood in stark contrast to President Trump, who has blamed the left-wing antifa movement for the violent demonstrations in several cities and urged Democratic state and local officials to get “tougher” on protests where there have been instances of violence.
The president said Sunday that the United States would designate antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Trump also threatened to use the power of the military to intervene against rioting if states fail to take more aggressive action to get the protests under control.
He has faced widespread condemnation after law enforcement cleared protesters in front of the White House earlier this week, after which he walked to a nearby church for a photo opportunity as he held a Bible.
Joe Biden, who was Obama’s vice president, is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. He said the death of Floyd was a “wake-up call for our nation” and accused Trump of fostering division across the country.
