1. Establishing a Citizen’s Review Board.
2. Significant investment in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
3. Ban the use of chokeholds, knee-to-neck maneuvers (and other lethal restraining techniques) and strengthen existing use-of-force standards.
4. Decriminalize minor marijuana crimes and other lower-level offenses.
5. Impose strict body camera provisions for officers.
6. Make the negotiations between municipal authorities (management) and the bargaining units that represent police officers public.
7. Abolish qualified immunity for officers.
“My entire life I’ve been told that I can’t wear cowboy boots because of my skin color"... Edmund wore a shirt that said “Normalize my Cowboy Boots," referring to the type of shoes he wears most of the time. He has been riding horses for over a decade and said the pain of being told he can’t wear his favorite footwear can sometimes be too much to talk about. “I normally bottle everything up,” Edmund said. “Everybody of color has been told they can’t do something or wear something because of their skin color.”Who's telling this guy that he can't wear cowboy boots? And who is worried about this? We live in a nation where 12-year-old Tamir Rice can be shot in the gut by police for playing in the park with no repercussions, or John Crawford can be shot to death by police while shopping at Walmart with no repercussions, or Breonna Taylor can be shot to death in her own hallway by police during an errant no-knock raid with no real repercussions. Not to mention George Floyd, who was suffocated to death by police officers over a $20 forgery accusation. Heck, they continued sitting on his corpse for two minutes after his pulse had stopped.
That's longer than this entire news segment. Nearly 20% of which was spent addressing this guy's cowboy boots.
Seriously, there is nothing stopping this man from wearing cowboy boots. And I'm struggling to understand why KCRG felt the need to focus on this man and his boots among the hundreds of people who marched for systemic police reform.