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POLICING THE USA
Policing the USA

T-Pain: A year after Floyd's death, nation must do more for Black and brown victims of crime

Spend more on mental health, other support services after trauma, even when it's at the hands of police

Reaction near Cup Foods after the guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd.
T-Pain and Tinisch Hollins
Opinion contributors

For most in the Black community, the overwhelming public outcry following the murder of George Floyd a year ago – and the attention on Derek Chauvin’s trial – was stunning. After so many deaths at the hands of the state, it was surprising to see America respond with the outrage the murder deserved. Yet, Black trauma shouldn’t have to be videotaped for it to matter. 

The truth is that the Black and brown communities most harmed by violence are often left out of conversations on solutions. Public officials continue to return to throwing more money into over-policing and over-incarceration in response to violence, disregarding the fact that these responses haven’t delivered safety. Instead, they further rip at the fabric of our communities. 

After hundreds of years of trauma and a year of reckoning with racial justice, it’s time for policymakers to respond differently.