So much for a “racial reckoning”

It has been three years since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The death at the hands of police sparked protests nationwide, including La Crosse, where people called for racial justice and police reform. Has anything changed in three years? Yes and no. Some communities have made changes in how police do their jobs, banning chokeholds and neck restraints, tightening restrictions on no-knock warrants, and eliminating qualified immunity for officers in situations involving deadly force. But those changes are slow, and hardly universal in this country. Communities certainly haven’t defunded the police as some unwisely called for. La Crosse County has slowly formed a committee to look at how policing is done here, and La Crosse police now employ a crisis team, partnering with mental health experts, to respond to those in crisis. But there certainly hasn’t been the “racial reckoning” some hoped the Floyd case would cause. In fact, the Floyd case, rather than bringing us together, seemed to push us even further apart. You either back the badge, or believe Black Lives Matter. For all of the anguish and anger over Floyd’s death, and all the efforts to bring change, it seems we are still along way from a racial reckoning.