Gang interventionist pushes for transformation of policing

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LAPD officers boxed in demonstrators who laid on the street in protest. Photo credit: Brian Feinzimer for KCRW.

Activists are calling for systematic changes in policing, as protests continue nationwide over the police killing of George Floyd. Gang interventionist Skipp Townsend says the recent protests and looting are a way for African American communities to express deep feelings of pain and burden.

“It is probably the worst thing in the world to be African American and know that we are the less numbers, we are less likely to succeed. We are more likely to be shot,” he says.

Because of this fear, Townsend says the current law enforcement system in America needs to be dismantled.