Updated on Sunday, June 14
‘The Latest News’ is a weekly thread where we update our readers on events that affect our communities.
Atlanta’s Police Chief Resigned After Rayshard Brooks was Killed at a Wendy’s Drive-Thru
Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, resigned less the day after a police shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, an unarmed Black man who feel asleep at a Wendy’s drive-thru. Brooks was confronted by police before he grabbed one of their tasers and ran away as Garrett Rolfe, a police officer, shot and killed him.
Rolfe was fired shortly after and on Saturday, the Wendy’s where the murder occurred was set on fire.
Brooks, who was 27, was murdered just one day before his daughter’s eighth birthday. His killing occurred in the midst of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and re-ignited heated protests in Atlanta and across the country.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is going to sign bills to reform police departments
New York governor Andrew Cuomo vowed to sign bills that would reform police departments in that state in the coming weeks. Among them is a law that would punish police chokeholds, the practice that led to the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd, with up to 15 years in prison.
Although chokeholds have been banned in cities like L.A. and New York City, individual police officers there are seldom held accountable for using them. Chokeholds are meant to knock people unconscious and in Black Lives Matter protests, chants of “I can’t breathe” are used in reference of that tactic.
Other police departments that are moving to ban chokeholds include San Diego, Minneapolis and Miami.
Watch: George Floyd’s Funeral Service Held in Houston
George Floyd’s private funeral service took place in Houston on Tuesday.
Minneapolis Plans to Dismantle its Police Department
On Sunday, the Minneapolis city council vowed to dismantle its police department and replace it with a new model of public safety after a second week of police brutality protests. Nine out of 12 city council members agreed to go forward with defunding the police department, a majority that cannot be overridden by the city’s Mayor, Jacob Frey. Frey had previously voiced his opposition to dismantling the Minneapolis police and was booed out of a protest on Saturday.
“I do not support the full abolition of the police,” Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said when he was put on the spot at a rally on Saturday. With that, protesters yelled “Go home, Jacob, go home!” and “Shame! Shame!” https://t.co/573TsGf4fW pic.twitter.com/NJF4hTErYm
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 7, 2020
The Black Lives Matter protests in recent weeks have called for cities to defund their police departments and instead use that money to help marginalized communities. The excessive militarization of police departments, who have recently used riot gear, tear gas, and tanks on protesters, has exposed the excessive resources they have at their disposal. In fact, the U.S. is the country that spends the most money on policing and incarcerating its own people, with over $180 billion spent each year.
Other cities that have recently vowed to take funding away from their police departments include New York City.
