Covid-19 & Black Lives Matter Demonstrations: Covid-19 Counts Still Rising | Defunding The Police Takes Root | San Diego Council Budget Hearing

Today I was supposed to judge the Battle of the Bands at the San Diego County Fair (taken 6.17.2019)

When we look back at 2020, I hope we're able to refer to it as "The Great Awakening" or "The Metamorphosis" or something that appropriately defines and captures the energy of today's climate. The surfacing of deaths at the hands of cops that have never received proper media attention, like #MauriceCooper and #ElijahMcClain, and the spreadsheet showing the nationwide violence should have all of our heads spinning and activating in the ways that we can while still in a full-blown and maybe about to explode pandemic. On Thursday a woman appeared to be kidnapped at a bus stop by San Diego High, and by the weekend the cops are under investigation (though one day threatening to kill people should be formalized in policy that results in mandatory termination without pay and benefits) and the item to put an Independent Police Practices Commission ballot measure in November has officially been docketed for the June 23rd San Diego City Council meeting by Georgette Gomez. Things are happening. Keep pushing. Stay safe out there. Lots of weekend reading after the jump.     

• "'We’re really dealing with a syndemic right now,' or the compounding effect of multiple, distinct health catastrophes, says Charles Branas, chair of the epidemiology department at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. 'The epidemic of racial injustice has come to a boil alongside an epidemic of Covid-19, and they’re acting together to really maximize the problem in the US.'”
• Covid-19 Cases Were Already Rising Before the George Floyd Protests:The easing of stay-at-home orders and Memorial Day travel have led to spikes in some parts of the country. That’s bad news for what comes next. - Wired (6.5.2020)
• “Any time now we see people who are not maintaining social distancing, there’s the potential for those people to spread the virus. But by the same token, I think we’re currently facing two public health crises. The first is COVID. And the second is racism and police violence that we’ve been facing for centuries.”
   How Much Should You Be Worried About a COVID-19 Spike From the Protests? - Slate (6.5.2020)
• It's amazing the speed with which the idea of defunding the police as taken hold around the country. The timing is both perfect as cities and counties and states all have to create and pass budgets and awful, in that the budgets are mostly decided and just need their final votes. The San Diego City Council is having their final budget discussion on Monday, June 8 and public comments can be made online or by calling in when the City Clerk announces agenda item No. 603. (619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861). In the current budget revisions, there are no calls to reduce current funding or retract additional spending. I don't expect we'll see any last hail marys tomorrow. But it doesn't mean we can't take their time. If you do call and get to comment, personalize your script. Nobody needs to hear hours and hours of people reading the exact same words.  
• What does 'defund the police' mean? The rallying cry sweeping the US – explained. Activists have long advocated taking money from police and reinvesting it in services. The idea is now seeing a wave of support - The Guardian (6.6.2020)
• Defund the Police - America needs to rethink its priorities for the whole criminal-justice system. - The Atlantic (6.5.2020)
• Activists have taken to Google Docs to track all of the evidence of use of force against civilians throughout the recent protests across the country. It keeps growing, and while that's a good thing for all of us to see these things being tracked, but the sheer volume of violence is sickening. 

City of San Diego Proposed Budget for FY2021 (h/t @JeffOlson)

• "The implicit argument behind body cameras was that if only the authorities—police commanders, prosecutors, judges, politicians—had some way of seeing what victims of police violence alleged, they would be able to do something about it. But the last week has proven what skeptics argued all along: The issue was never that the authorities couldn’t see police misconduct. The issue is that they never want to, and they remain just as willing to lie in the face of evidence we've all seen with our own eyes. It turns out cops don’t care if they’re being filmed, and with the people in power willing to lie for them, why would they?"
• The Police Are Gaslighting Us: Reformers said body cameras and video evidence would stop police brutality. Instead, we're being told to not believe our own eyes. - Vice (6.5.2020)
• How a 'rogue' employee forced NFL, Goodell into new Black Lives Matter stance - Yahoo Sports (6.6.2020)