You Can't Value Black Lives If You Don't Value Black Agency
ST. LOUIS, June 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- If black lives matter, black agency must matter too, states Jerroll Sanders, President of ONUS, Inc. Sanders drafted and delivered to various congressional leaders more than five years ago a sweeping national legislative proposal to transform policing at the structural level. Sanders says that she, community advocates and parents of children slain by police walked the halls of Congress, met with congressional leaders, including Corey Booker's staff, and appealed for their backing. None acted, she says, but many warned of fierce opposition from police unions and the fraternal order of police (FOP). In the meantime, she explains, countless black men and women continued to die at the hands of abusive police officers.
Monday, June 8th, House Democrats marched before the public and revealed tenets of draft legislation they constituted to address outcries for sweeping policing reform. Sanders, drafter of The Equality in Policing Act years earlier (formally known as URLEIA), says the reforms announced are not enough. "I continue to stand by the preventative safeguards in the Equality in Policing Act," Sanders explains?some of which appear to have been harvested for the Dem's policing plan. "I want the best product no matter where it comes from because I am tired of seeing community members killed without cause." She adds that "We have got to get this right and we need The Equality in Policing Act on the table so we can decide what is best for "us," black people?the ones most harmed by current policing practices."
Sanders asserts that now is a seminal moment: Many who previously took aim at the phrase 'black lives matter' now echo its truth. But merely acknowledging that black lives matter is not enough says Sanders. "Valuing black lives means valuing black agency, specifically, making sure ideas and strategies devised by blacks to correct problems that ail them are seen, heard and acted upon," she explains. "We must solve our own problems?all of them?from community issues, to education and economics. Change is on us," Sanders states, citing the motto of ONUS, Inc.
In recognition of black agency, Sanders argues that The Equality in Policing Act (URLEIA) and all its safeguards should be brought to the table so the American public can envision what policing can become (#BlackAgencyMatters).
URLEIA is endorsed by Blacks in Government (BIG). Learn more at www.changeisonus.org.
ONUS, Inc. is a 501(3)4 organization. Its mission is "Resolving Longstanding Problems that Seem Too Big to Fix!
SOURCE ONUS, Inc.
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