Jun 18, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Atlanta mayor: Police morale down tenfold amid protests

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the Georgia city last October. Photo:x Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN Wednesday evening police morale "is down tenfold" in the city following protests against police brutality that escalated with the fatal shooting by a white officer of Rayshard Brooks.

The big picture: She appeared on "Cuomo Prime Time" following reports that police officers had walked off the job amid tensions. The Atlanta Police Department said this was "inaccurate," but there was "a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift." Bottoms told CNN, "Our streets won't be any less safe because of the number of officers who called out." She didn't specify how many had called out sick.

Go deeper: Officer who shot Rayshard Brooks charged with murder

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Orion Rummler

Jun 24, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Louisville police officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting fired

Protesters hold pictures of Breonna Taylor, left, Andrew Kearse, center, and Ahmaud Arbery, right, during a demonstration on June 22 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was fired on Tuesday, effective immediately, for "blindly" firing 10 bullets into Breonna Taylor's apartment on March 13, the police department announced.

Driving the news: Black Lives Matter protesters and activists on social media have called for punitive action in the wake of Taylor's death, after she was fatally shot by police who entered her apartment without warning through a "no-knock" warrant.

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Axios Events

Updated Jun 19, 2020 - Axios Events

Watch: A conversation to commemorate Juneteenth

On Friday, June 19, Axios' markets reporter Dion Rabouin hosted a discussion on the history of Juneteenth and the current nationwide protests against police violence, featuring former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, BET founder Robert Johnson and activist DeRay Mckesson.

Robert Johnson discussed the history of Juneteenth and his advocacy around reparations.

On reparations and race relations: "Reparations is a demand on the part of African-Americans that we be made whole for the wealth that was stolen from slaves over a 300 year period...My position is that white America should recognize the debt and black Americans should be proud to accept the atonement."
How slavery laid the foundation for racial income inequality: "It is no secret that the net income of a white family is $170,000 on average. The net income of a black family is $17,000. That 10-fold disparity can be traced directly back to the wealth transfer that started with slave labor."

Mayor Sylvester Turner focused on policy decisions around policing in Houston, and responded to calls for defunding the police.

On his decision to increase police funding: "We need policing. [People] are asking for good policing. They're asking for a policing system that's accountable. They're also going beyond that...They want to be investing in communities and neighborhoods that have been overlooked and under invested in for decades."

Valerie Jarrett discussed the ongoing demonstrations around the country and the upcoming election in November.

On the importance of civil rights during this political moment: "We need a robust civil rights division...in deciding how you want to vote, you should say, are the people who are in office actually worrying about the civil rights of all Americans and not just some Americans?"
On how to make cultural progress: "It's not good enough to just say, 'Look, I'm not a racist.' What you have to say is: 'What am I going to do to help change our culture, to make it better?' There's something that we can all do individually. There's certainly something the business community can do."

DeRay Mckesson highlighted how the present moment invites people to reimagine the concept of safety.

"The question is not police, no police. The question is like, how do I stay safe and what does safety look like? The police are not the best answer to that. The police aren't the only answer to that. And the police shouldn't be the answer that we fund when we think of that question."

Thank you Bank of America for sponsoring this event.

Rashaan Ayesh

Jun 23, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Senate Democrats call GOP police reform bill "not salvageable"

Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday stating that Senate Republicans' police reform bill is "not salvageable."

Why it matters: The bill comes amid a national reckoning over police brutality and systemic racism spurred by the killing of George Floyd, but Capitol Hill's gridlock over the best path forward might torpedo any real legislative action on the issue at the moment.