Some topics are too rich to write about just once — and this column seeks to tackle a lot of them.
For all the people wondering, “What ever happened to …?” this week’s column — part two in a two-part series — is full of updates on issues I’ve written about in this space before. If you’ve got a topic from this column in mind that you’d like to see updated, let me know at editor@valleyadvocate.com.
The Counted, Too
In the wake of the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police, and the slaying of five police officers by snipers at a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas, I am reminded of the Seven Days killers in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. In the book, the Seven Days is a group of black men who kill white people in “revenge” for each time a black person is killed by a white person. “I suppose you know,” the friend says, “that white people kill black people from time to time, and most folks shake their heads and say, ‘Eh, eh, eh, ain’t that a shame?’” The main character’s friend joins Seven Days, he says, to combat a black genocide; while the protagonist calls his friend’s efforts dangerous, vicious, and ultimately hurtful to all races. The novel explores these rationales, but ends without making clear whether violence or peace can bring justice. And we still don’t know. Since the Civil Rights era, dissenters have been taught to protest peacefully while the nation goes about the business of war and imprisonment. There is unlikely to be a consensus on what foments justice — war or peace — though many people are firmly in one camp or the other. To sate protests against police violence and solve the mistrust between public safety and citizens, when a civilian is killed U.S. police need to be held to a higher level of public accountability. People need to see that justice is being served, or at the very least that it’s being pursued. The first step in accomplishing this would be for the U.S. government to track when, why and under what circumstances people are killed by police officers. Right now, the government does not keep accurate records of this information, though a handful of nonprofits and news organizations, including The Guardian and The Washington Post, have been compiling this data for two years. So far in 2016, police have killed 566 civilians. Last year, 1,146 people were killed by officers — and the rate of black people killed was more than twice as high as the rate for white people, according to the Guardian’s count. In December, the FBI pledged to provide more details to the public about people who died in police hands, but that data is yet to be released.
Until the U.S. takes on the responsibility of remembering when someone is killed by a police officer, any attempt at reining in violence is lip service. Reporting to the FBI by municipal and state departments regarding civilian deaths should be mandatory and thorough. Violence is no answer; providing a public forum for justice will protect civilians as well as officers.
Public Records Overhaul
Earlier this year, state politicians debated changes to the much-maligned Massachusetts public records laws. Critics have long said the laws are routinely ignored by public officials, and filing requests has become a financial burden to people in need of information that, in theory, is public property. In June, Gov. Baker signed the new public records law, which gives public officials 10 business days to respond to a request and another 25 days to fill that request. There is also now a cap on how much can be charged for public records, and a judge can compel a government agency or municipality to pay attorney fees for some people who challenge the handling of a request. Can’t wait to test these new laws out.
Puerto Rico’s Debt
Puerto Rico is $72 billion in the hole and defaulted for the first time on July 1, when the nation missed a $779 million payment on its constitutionally guaranteed debt. On the day prior, politicians at the White House were harrumphing in bipartisan unison about how they weren’t going to let Puerto Rico “drive off a cliff.” They managed to pass an 11th-hour piece of legislation protecting the island government that will keep creditor lawsuits at bay for a bit longer while a U.S. financial board, appointed by the Obama administration, works with Puerto Rico to hammer out a repayment plan. Sen. Bernie Sanders and some other politicians have called the vote “disastrous,” claiming the financial board will be too powerful and the deal benefits hedge fund managers. But Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, who made a trip to D.C. to lobby for the bill’s passage, says that while the legislation is not perfect, Puerto Rico needs it to keep the territory from being sued into oblivion.
Contact Kristin Palpini at editor@valleyadvocate.com.
