Joe Biden’s visit to Kenosha stirred a call to action and discussions by State Representative David Bowen, Milwaukee activist Tory Lowe and California activist Stevante Clark on how to reform the Department of Justice.
Outside the Kenosha Grace Lutheran Church, crowds gathered over former Vice President Joe Biden’s arrival. A hum of small conversations and the boom of bullhorns filled the streets. Among the voices was State Representative Bowen, who called for accountability in the DOJ and focused efforts towards healing ties between the police and Black communities. He compared the precarious current relationship between the DOJ and Black people to the relationship between doctors and patients.
“If a doctor isn’t going to be accountable to the people he serves,” Rep. Bowen said. “There is no need for him to treat that patient.”
Founder of the I Am SAC Foundation Stevante Clark had a tenuous enthusiasm about the visit from Biden, as he expressed that more could be done with the visit from presidential candidate.
“It’s a political move,” said Clark. “But I appreciate him being there and showing support for the family.”
Clark criticized the privacy behind Biden’s visit and would have rather seen an open round table discussion with community leaders and those who are trusted by the people who of Kenosha.
“What is very important when it comes to bridging the gap is receiving recommendations from the community against these monstrosities,” said Clark. “Behind closed doors meetings; we are passed that.”
Clark was in favor of an actionable item from Biden’s visit, like establishing pretext for legislature. Clark wants to bring a version of the Stephon Clark Law to Wisconsin, which would require police to only use deadly force when necessary, rather than when reasonable. This change in language restricts officers from shooting suspects who are running away and do not pose an immediate danger. Clark helped pass this law in his Sacramento, Calif. hometown.
The change in language from reasonable to necessary enforces a higher level of accountability on both sides of the law and allows a smaller amount of interpretation to justify the use of deadly force. Clark referenced the Stephon Clark Law and wants to see it implemented on a national level.
“If we had something like that model on the national level, I think it would help when it comes to bridging the gap,” said Clark.
Milwaukee activist Tory Lowe spoke on the protestor’s call for police budget to be cut.
“I just want the things to work right, because at the end of the day we are funding this,” said Lowe. “We are funding security for the community, which is the police. We just need to bust up some of these ideas and make sure it works correctly.”
Lowe wanted to take a different approach and limit the protections police unions afford to the officers, because those protections could contribute to the deaths of African Americans at the hands of the police.
“We have to start to gut out these police unions that are protecting these police officers,” said Lowe. “Giving them, essentially, a golden parachute for officers to kill African Americans.”
He wants psychological evaluations and detailed reporting on each officer by their department to determine if they exhibit questionable behaviors.
“We need to keep track of the behavior of these officers and red flag questionable behaviors,” said Lowe. “It should be a constant thing, it should be going on every day, it should be a part of the process.”