By Sarah Alvarez
On March 25, 2021, Springfield Police Department’s “independent” expert, former police chief Rick Braziel, released an assessment of SPD’s response to the July 29, 2020, Black Unity protest. During the protest numerous people were injured by both law enforcement and violent far-right counter-protesters.
In response to SPD’s unconstitutional actions, the Civil Liberties Defense Center filed a civil rights action on behalf of specific named plaintiffs and Black Unity as an organization. Black Unity sought to peacefully protest a noose in the Thurston neighborhood when police and counter-protesters turned the event into a violent and dangerous scrum.
The report’s focus on “improving” SPD’s policing misses the mark. Springfield community members demanded actual transparency, a reimagination of policing and an aggressive redistribution of police department budgets to mental health and addiction treatment, housing, crisis intervention, education and other community services. This call was echoed in communities across the country during the summer of 2020 when millions took to the streets to demand police departments be defunded and carceral systems be abolished.