FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: LaSella L. Hall, Ph.D.: (404) 422-2543
Date: July 13, 2020 — 8:30 a.m. president@naacpnewbedford.org
Massachusetts House Police Accountability Bill Fails Black Lives and the Commonwealth
NEW BEDFORD — “The Massachusetts House of Representatives took a reasonably thoughtful Senate reform bill and removed the crucial aspects for police accountability,” said Dr. LaSella L. Hall, President of the NAACP New Bedford Branch. He continued, “H.4860, the House version of the bill passed by the Senate, is a disappointment that can only be salvaged with numerous amendments and, in its present version, clearly does not value highly the Black lives and communities of color mentioned in the bill’s description.”
While vulnerable Massachusetts communities expected to see some accountability of police, the House removed efforts to reduce Qualified Immunity, under which the most egregious acts of law enforcement have been tacitly condoned;
while all communities are under threat from the increasing militarization of police, the House removed Demilitarizing Police & Strengthening Regulations on the Use of Force from the bill;
while communities are demanding an end to the school-to-prison pipeline the House removed the Protecting Students from Profiling amendment, which disrupts the school-to-prison pipeline by preventing the transmission of student information to law enforcement agencies;
while we have seen prisoners brutalized and their basic rights denied, the House bill has removed the provision that would create a commission to study human rights in the Department of Correction.
This House bill fails in so many aspects that it is almost unrecognizable as a companion to the Senate bill.
“We demand that necessary provisions for the protection of our communities be reinserted into H. 4860, and that a true police accountability bill be delivered to the Governor for his signature into law,” said NAACP New Bedford Vice President Renee Ledbetter. “Now is the time to act, not after some future outrage further undermines the faith of people of color in their elected leaders, and in law enforcement.”
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.
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