Statement by Electeds and Leaders of Color on Governor Baker’s Amendments to S.2963 December 11, 2020

"We are disappointed that the Governor chose to blink and potentially stand on the wrong side of history. What we needed in this moment of reckoning was steely-eyed, brave allyship. The Governor could have provided that by signing the bill and filing concurrent new legislation with the changes he’d like, as he has done with past conference committee bills. Instead, we got amendments that serve to ignore through delay the very people and communities most impacted and harmed by the police. Regardless of the text of his amendments, the Governor is sending the bill back through the gauntlet of unrelenting police opposition and delay tactics—knowingly jeopardizing months of careful negotiation and compromise. Remember, delay is victory for the status quo.

“But poor, Black and brown communities have fought through exhaustion and heartbreak before. That’s what we have always had to do. And we will do it again. We call upon our Legislature to continue its thoughtful, hard work and put this bill back on the Governor’s desk as quickly as possible. “We will continue to call out these amendments and delay tactics exactly for what they are: self-serving attempts to maintain the status quo by a deafening chorus of voices who themselves have likely never been on the receiving end of racial profiling, the excessive use of force, no-knock warrants, or biased and error-prone facial recognition technology.

“We need those most impacted by policing at the table and actively listened to. That includes law enforcement, but it also must include the communities and people most often policed. We are disappointed, but undeterred. The marathon continues.”

● US Representative Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts 7th Congressional District

● District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Suffolk County

● Register of Probate Felix D. Arroyo, Sr., Suffolk County

● State Representative Russell Holmes, 6th Suffolk District

● State Representative Liz Miranda, 5th Suffolk District

● State Representative-Elect Brandy Fluker Oakley, 12th Suffolk

● Boston City Council President Kim Janey, District 7

● Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu, At-Large

● Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia, At-Large

● Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, District 1

● Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, District 4

● Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, District 5

● Lawyers for Civil Rights, Executive Director Iván Espinoza-Madrigal

● ACLU Massachusetts, Director of the Racial Justice Program Rahsaan Hall