Five years ago, a police officer murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, 29 seconds.
I was two years removed from my career as a federal prosecutor. In Washington, D.C., where I worked, prosecutors hold jurisdiction over federal and local crimes. For several years, I served as a community prosecutor, where I worked in police precincts. I got to know officers as dedicated individuals, but also, crucially, as part of a faulty system.
I became a prosecutor believing I could effect change. But I learned that the foundation of a racist punishment framework was hard to shake and that a justice system, originating in slavery, designed to control and oppress Black people, would — and does — continue to do that.
I was shocked to see how the Floyd injustice could inspire action. Americans poured into the streets throughout 2020, despite the persistence of COVID-19; as many as 26 million protested. State and local governments enacted a wave of police reforms. Corporations and their foundations promised nearly $50 billion for racial justice initiatives.
This White House administration is now drowning us in a flood of regressive executive orders and federal actions. Many will harm Black communities. From sweeping measures to eliminate DEI initiatives — essentially resegregation — to the neutering of civil rights protection to proposed legislation to cut Medicaid, we will feel this pain most acutely.
Public safety has been my work for the last 20 years. I was devastated when the Department of Justice illegally canceled 371 grants to more than 200 community-based organizations, health care institutions, and municipalities working to prevent violence.
This administration will not reinstate these dollars, so we need state and local leaders, as well as philanthropy, to step up because these programs save lives. Black lives.
Restorative justice is a process equally vital, addressing harm to avoid the legal system — especially for youth — while bringing healing and resolution for survivors. Participants who choose restorative justice report satisfaction rates ranging between 80% and 90%.
My organization was one of the 200. The loss of funding is crushing, but the impact goes further. We were passing on hundreds of thousands of dollars to innovative startup organizations saving lives in their communities. They show up at homicide scenes to support families, provide resources to youth exposed to violence and trauma, and much more. They were counting on this money to grow and address the drivers of violence they experience every day.
The timing couldn’t be worse. Violence surges every summer, as surely as the temperature rises. But it will be worse this year because of the DOJ’s actions.
This administration will blame the rise in crime on the disinvested communities most ravaged by violence — rather than take responsibility for ending the life-saving measures that made violence intervention and prevention tangible.
Our movement is struggling for oxygen, a systemic knee on our neck. We expect this administration to ignore our pleas for relief, as an officer did to George Floyd. But there are mayors, state legislators, and governors, as well as countless philanthropists, bearing witness to this grave injustice. Save Black lives now. We’re begging you.
Former federal prosecutor Jamila Hodge is CEO of Equal Justice USA, a national organization transforming the justice system through community-centered responses to violence