In the past few weeks people of the Valley — from the Derby/Shelton bridge, to the green in Naugatuck, and everywhere in between — have joined in peace to mourn the death of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the many many other people of color who have been killed by the police and/or by white supremacists.
We have come together to say Black Lives Matter.
We have united in order to put an end to police violence, systematic racism, and discrimination. A rallying cry repeated throughout many of the protests, marches, and vigils has been: silence is compliance.
I am a white, straight, cisgender male, so I must use my privilege and my voice here and now to call on all city and town halls and ask them bring immediate policy and budgetary changes to their towns and cities.
The first and foremost of which is the removal of money from police budgets and reallocate these funds into education budgets and housing needs.
Secondly the making illegal choke holds, strangulation holds by police officers and the demilitarization of police departments. Followed by the formation of a Crisis Response team that can help people who are having issues with mental health and drugs with trained professionals who have the ability to intervene and get these individuals the help they so desperately need, without the use of violence.
The formation of a police accountability board that run exclusively by, has its members democratically elected, and which has the power to investigate, subpoena, and terminate the contract of any police officer in that town or city who has had a complaint filed against them.
These policy and budgetary changes are just the very beginning of what needs to happen. Additionally, we need to stop negotiating with police unions and instead, disband them. If the politicians of the valley cannot make such changes happen, then they need to step down and aside to make way for people who can make them happen to be voted in.
Matthew McGowan
The writer lives in Ansonia.
