URBAN LEAGUE LEADERS: APPALLING VIDEO OF JACOB BLAKE SHOOTING PROVES THE NEED FOR ACTION ON POLICE REFORM
Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, Ruben Anthony, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison, and Dr. Eve Hall, President and CEO of the Milwaukee Urban League, issued the following joint statement in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha Police:
“Even as the digital age has brought many shocking acts of police brutality to light, the video of Kenosha police shooting Jacob Blake in the back at point-blank range stands an especially egregious example of the need for transformative change in police procedures and culture.
“The image of police shooting a man who appears to pose no conceivable threat as his children watch from mere feet away is beyond outrageous. Our hearts are with Mr. Blake and his traumatized family as they pray for his recovery.
“We are forced to question everything about this appalling scene, from the level of training these officers received to the department’s use-of-force policies. As the police apparently were not wearing body cameras, what might be the official police account of the shooting had a bystander not recorded it?
“The city of Kenosha immediately must appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate the shooting and commit to holding the officers accountable. We support Governor Tony Evers’ executive order calling for a special session of the legislature to take up police reform bills that have languished for two months. On the federal level, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would tighten standards and accountability to make shootings like this a rarity, also languishes in the Senate after it passed the House in June.
“There is no excuse for the lack of action on these desperately-needed reforms.”
