“The ColorOfChange community stands with Mike Brown’s family and loved ones in grieving this grave injustice. Mike Brown was a dearly loved teenager, at the start of his adult life, ripped from his family by system of racism that said his life didn’t matter. Mike Brown’s life mattered to his family, his loved ones, to the millions of people across the world that have raised their voices and demanded justice for his death.
“While we applaud the US Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice for taking action against the inhumane abuse and discrimination of Ferguson and St. Louis Police, we strongly condemn the non-indictment of Darren Wilson. Despite the unreasonably high standard to prosecute civil rights cases, Wilson should have been charged. And the fact that he will face no accountability for his brutal action highlights deep seated, structural problems with the DOJ that must be addressed by President Obama.”
“In many ways the DOJ’s recommended reforms do not go far enough and unduly place the onus on police to police themselves. We need more than just trainings and data collection, but rather the creation of entirely new systems of accountability, such as community review boards with the power to hire and fire police, as well as a complete overhaul of current leadership. The DOJ must now ensure that Ferguson officials and law enforcement swiftly and effectively implement their recommend changes and more. Too often, law enforcement disregard federal findings and continue with the business as usual, allowing discriminatory officers motivated by dangerous racial stereotypes to unjustly harass, arrest and kill more and more people.
“Ferguson is America. And the DOJ’s findings are an important example of the type of federal leadership needed in cities across the country. Nationwide police kill Black Americans at nearly the same rate as Jim Crow Era lynchings. There are more than enough federal civil rights laws on the books to hold violent and discriminatory police officers and departments accountable. But we are not seeing the necessary leadership to ensure they are properly enforced. Unless our President Obama takes definitive action, we will continue to have an unequal, deadly, broken system of justice and policing that can’t be trusted.
“We cannot afford to wait another year or two to for the possible benefits of federal pattern and practice investigations or the White House’s police task force. Police are targeting and killing our loved ones, now. Families are being unjustly denied justice, now. And it is imperative that President Obama sign an executive order enforcing and expanding federal bans on discriminatory policing, strengthening systems of police discipline, ordering the immediate collection of nationwide data on police use of force, ending federal anti-drug grants and funding for abusive and discriminatory police departments, and massively re-investing in community controlled policing. Anything less is unacceptable.”
“Mike Brown’s tragic killing shown a national spotlight on the Ferguson’s egregious and aggressive policing practices targeting Black and low-income Missourians and today’s findings offer long-overdue reforms to address this human rights crisis. Today’s decision is undoubtedly the result of more than 6 months of brave, courageous organizing by Mike Brown parents and Black folks and their allies nationwide, who continue to risk everything in the face of growing police repression to demand an end to anti-Black prejudice.
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With more than 1 million members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.