SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As a black woman, Meg White said when she first saw the video of Jacob Blake Jr. being shot seven times in the back by police in Wisconsin, she went numb.
"The first thing I feel is anger, then next is powerless, then next is motivated. It’s just a reminder of just how important it is to not stay at home and wait for this to happen to me and my direct family,” White said.
That is why she and her colleagues with their organization, J.U.I.C.E., are protesting for police reform that is implemented not just recommended by local leaders.
“They have reforms on paper to put in place and we’ve seen it time and time again, but the action that is supposed to go behind those so-called reforms that our city officials and police department have said to us, has not actually been going on in a way that we can recognize and feel safe,” said Nehemiah Johnson, a member of JUICE, which stands for Justice Unites Individuals & Communities Everywhere.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg put forth two proposals in June with the intent of holding police more accountable. One proposal was to create an inspector general who would investigate police brutality. The second proposal would make it so police officers would no longer respond to non-law enforcement calls.
Neither one of those proposals has been implemented, but Steinberg said that if he was able to have executive power, more police reform would be accomplished.
Steinberg said the city is in the process of hiring someone outside the police department to hold the role of inspector general and he hopes to have the position filled in a couple of months.
California Sen. Steven Bradford is backing Senate Bill 731, which would allow for permanently stripping away the badges of officers found to have committed serious misconduct.
Bradford said 45 other states already have the law in place but the bill will have to get enough votes to get to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk land on the governor's desk.
“It’s a lot of talk. I think we need to those Democrats that aren’t ready, to vote for this,” Bradford said.
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