redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
Redbird ([personal profile] redbird) wrote2020-06-03 01:32 pm

politics: writing to my legislators

Content warning for mention of police violence:

The most recent newsletter from my state legislator ["representative in General Court"], Dave Rogers. starts with a section headed "Hlack Lives Matter," expressing his outrage at the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and "countless other abuses and injustices heaped upon communities of color." After a couple of paragraphs I agree with, he talks about specific bills he is proposing. As described, one would require police body cams, and the other is about transparency and standards for use of force.

I followed the links and read "H.2087 - An Act to create uniform standards in use of force, increase transparency, and reduce harm." It's a good bill--and it doesn't say what he implies it does. It's entirely about establishing standards for corrections officers, not for police dealing with non-incarcerated people.

So, I just wrote to Rogers, saying that I am absolutely in favor of H.2087, but it doesn't do what he says, and such a law would have done nothing to protect Floyd or the many other people police have killed on the street. Previous emails from Rogers make me hope that this is an error in the newsletter-writing, not a deliberate attempt to obfuscate, but I will see what comes back.

I haven't been out on the streets, because covid, but this I can do.
light_of_summer: (Earth)

[personal profile] light_of_summer 2020-06-04 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Good catch! I hope your legislator follows up in a timely and responsibly ethical way. Thanks for the reminder that I should also be writing my legislators...