Enough is enough. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland and too many other Black Americans and people of color at the hands of those charged with protecting them are unconscionable.
Even before the tragic murder of George Floyd, it was clear that policing in the United States is deeply troubled. A lack of transparency and accountability, and a failure to confront the historic racism in policing, has resulted in a law enforcement system that routinely fails at its fundamental task of protecting and serving the American people.
Past efforts at reform have fallen woefully short in no small part because institutional negligence silences the many good actors and allows for racist and brutal policing to persist.
This is a time when those in government, business, education and philanthropy must join with civil rights activists and community leaders to ensure that we achieve deep, systemic, and sustainable changes in policing.
Our mission at Arnold Ventures is to maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. Racial injustice is pervasive in each field in which we work. Our pledge is to continue using all the tools in our arsenal, including research, evidence, advocacy and litigation, to dismantle these injustices and thereby achieve true reform.
