PuLSE Institute Launches Forum Series on Reforming Policing in America

In light of the ongoing protests against police brutality, there is an urgent need to deliver justice for the victims of police violence, and end the culture of impunity that allows officers to face minimal consequences for their actions. As a result, The PuLSE Institute, Detroit’s independent anti-poverty think tank, is launching a series of public policy online forums to push for serious reforms of the police institution in America. The forums will examine a variety of industry and community accountability such as political responsibility, corporate and social responsibility, criminal justice, civic and community advocacy to identify the requisite solutions to prevent the massacre of innocent black lives.

The first online forum, “Confronting Police Brutality in the Wake of Political Accountability,” will be held Wednesday, July 1, from 6-8pm. The forum will feature Samuel Bagenstos, former top U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights official under former President Barack Obama, law professor at the University of Michigan and senior fellow at The PuLSE Institute, Sam Riddle, longtime political veteran and activist, 910AM host and senior fellow at The PuLSE Institute, Tina M. Patterson, Esq., president and director of research at The PuLSE Institute and City of Inkster police chief William T. Riley. All four panelists will spotlight the need for political leaders to use the power of their offices to create changes to an inherently biased criminal justice system that is steeped in anti-black sentiments, which are no longer sustainable in this era of the Black Lives Matter movement. The longstanding police violence that has been a centerpiece of black suffering for decades in the nation, has come to a point where it must finally be stopped to save the integrity of our democracy, repair the public trust and uphold the rule of law.

To rsvp for the forum click on the eventbrite link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/confronting-police-brutality-in-the-wake-of-political-accountability-tickets-110716610362 .

The forum moderator is Bankole Thompson, the editor-in-chief of The PuLSE Institute. Thompson is a twice-a-week opinion columnist at The Detroit Newsand the host of REDLINE, a political radio show on 910AM Super Station-Detroit which airs daily Monday through Friday from 11am-1pm EST.

“We are in a moment in history that cannot be ignored. As a think tank with a dedicated mission against inequality, The PuLSE Institute must by definition answer the call in the demands for police reform and political accountability to end the legalized murder of black people in this nation,” said Patterson, the president of The PuLSE Institute. “For far too long, black people have been acceptable victims of police brutality, fostered by institutionalized racism in a court system that refuses to hold police officers accountable for their takings of black life.”

She added, “While not an unusual occurrence, the murder of George Floyd struck a nerve with the city of Minneapolis, the entire United States, and numerous countries around the world, signaling that enough is enough. The energy is abundant in finally acting toward policy reform that will punish and prevent the unjust murders of black people by the police.”

Dates and times for the remaining forums that will explore all sides of this crisis of police brutality will be announced once details become available. Visit www.thepulseinstitute.org for more information and follow our public discussions on the issues of poverty and inequality critical to the ongoing recovery of Detroit.