Recently, there have been an onslaught of multiple different incidents where African American individuals have become disproportionately affected as victims of the opposite end of police misconduct. Not only is there video evidence of misconduct, but the transparency of what unfolds during what should be a relatively brief encounters between African Americans and law enforcement officers, is becoming more and more known to the public around the world. Amidst all of the deadly encounters that should have ended in a citation or an arrest, legislative bodies are looking at police reform to correct this decisive issue we have in the United States: the lack of implicit bias and use of force training for police officers.
However, the issue we are dealing with is not whether police should be trained better to make more reasonable decisions, but that one party disagrees with another party regarding what should be done to correct this issue. As a result, we are in a stagnant place that has done nothing but foster more hatred between both sides of the argument. Protestors are marching in the streets, but rioters and looters are showing that they can be opportunistic and take advantage of the peaceful movement of those who actually are trying to bring about change. This is one of the many reasons why Congress cannot come to an agreement as to what needs to be done about police reform.
House Democrats have come up with a comprehensive and all-inclusive bill that addresses the root of the problems we are experiencing. However, the Republicans have proposed a much narrower and less inclusive bill. The key differences: banning no-knock warrants vs logging data about what happens during no-knock warrants, public vs private misconduct databases, and banning chokeholds all together vs providing exceptions for officers who already lack training.
Hopefully, there can be a middle ground that the House and Senate can agree on to benefit society, because the arguments that are being had do not and will not change things anytime in the near future.