Ensure Police Reform. Take Action Now.
Since our Branch’s founding earlier this year, we have been working to end racial bias in policing. As the legislature has passed and presented to the governor a Policing Reform Bill for his signature, we need your help to ensure it gets signed into law. We also want you to be aware of where your local representatives, both Senators and Representatives, stand on this issue. They must be held fully accountable. This is a crucially important time, and it’s a time where your action will be impactful.
Last week, the Massachusetts House and Senate Conference Committee reached a compromise on the two versions of the comprehensive police reform bills which had passed their respective chambers. This comes after months of negotiation in both the Massachusetts State House and Senate.
The Bill addresses many of the issues that NEAC (New England Area Conference) of the NAACP had advocated for and it goes a long way to provide greater accountability of police and to create an environment to address systemic racism in law enforcement and the action of rogue police against Black citizens. As NEAC, our regional office and governing body, supports this package in its entirety, so does our Branch.
Another matter to take note of is that not one Republican Senator voted in favor for this Bill. At this time we do not know how our Representatives voted. In the example of Senator Bruce Tarr, here is an excerpt from a recent NBC article:
“Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, declined to sign the conference committee report. Asked about his reservations Monday, Tarr declined to identify any. He said he was "still reading the bill" after first seeing the finished product "a short time ago." He did not say whether he would vote for or against accepting the committee's report.
"I'm looking at everything," Tarr, who voted present on the Senate's original police reform bill, said. "This is a bill where the details are important, so that's why I'm reviewing them once again."”
This laissez faire approach to something so utterly important, headline-capturing and urgent has caused this Branch to be seriously concerned as to Senator Tarr’s ability to accurately represent his full constituency.
Natalie Bowers, President of the North Shore Branch of the NAACP, said, “In a period of six months since the bill was introduced, to not only vote against its adoption, but to allow a local news outlet to capture this response is unforgivable. If [Tarr] hasn’t yet found time to review this bill, what exactly has he been doing all summer long, when every national paper was covering Police Reform on their front pages, when his own District was mobilizing to create an NAACP Branch that set a record in its membership level at the time of chartering, and while individual local towns were hosting Black Lives Matter protests, highlighting the issue. This dismissive, aloof response is definitely not supportive of his constituency and it speaks against his ability to stand up for essential Reform that can reduce police infractions against civilians. The approval of this Bill should be consistent across the party line and Tarr’s [and other Republican Senators’] lack of support is a serious cause for concern because we need our political leaders to represent everyone, not just who is lobbying them. The NAACP, our country’s oldest civil rights organization, fully supports this Bill and so should our elected leaders.”
HIllary C. Robinson, North Shore Branch of the NAACP’s Vice President I and Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee said, “While the Governor seems somewhat in favor, the policing bill has passed without a veto proof majority. Significantly, it creates the first statewide licensing commission for officers, standardizes training, and the commission - which has citizen members - can revoke licenses, removing also qualified immunity for officers in certain circumstances. If you have time, call or write the Governor’s office asap.”
Juan Cofield, President of NEAC, says of the Bill, “During my tenure [as President of NEAC], the police reform legislation and the Student Opportunity Act have been the two pieces of legislation in which NEAC, and I personally, have been the most engaged and advocated the hardest for. Even though our preferred version of Qualified Immunity was not adopted, the compromised package represents a major victory for the interests of police accountability and Black citizens' protection from racist and lawless police.”
Take Action Today.
Here’s what you can do - please do it before this Friday because this is when it’s anticipated that Governor Baker will consider signing the Bill:
Call Governor Baker’s office and tell him to support this Bill in full. Dial: (617) 725-4005
Call/email Senator Tarr’s office and tell him your disappointment of his failure to support this bill and your expectations that he will support it going forward. email, or call: Bruce.Tarr@masenate.gov (617) 722-1600
Call or email your State Representative's office and ask them how they voted on the Policing Reform Bill. If they voted against it, express disappointment. Find out who your State representatives are here: https://malegislature.gov/search/findmylegislator
Join our Criminal Justice Committee if you want to volunteer or be more involved on matters of Police reform and Criminal Justice. Contact Criminal Justice Chair, Hilary Robinson. email her here: northshoremanaacp@gmail.com
Help strengthen our voice with membership. Urge your friends and family to take membership with our Branch today, or buy them a gift membership. Join us today.