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December 2, 2014

"Hands Up" Walkouts Sweep U.S. as Obama Unveils Police Reforms 
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In more than 30 U.S. cities, workers and students walked out of school
or off the job Monday with their hands raised to protest the police
shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. In Washington, D.C.,
protesters staged a die-in at the Justice Department. In Cambridge,
Massachusetts, dozens laid down in a major intersection in Harvard
Square. President Obama. meanwhile, issued his first major policy
response, announcing a community policing initiative.

President Obama: "The sense that, in a country where one of our basic
principles — perhaps the most important principle — is
equality under the law, that too many individuals, particularly young
people of color, do not feel as if they are being treated fairly. As I
said last week, when any part of the American family does not feel like
it is being treated fairly, that's a problem for all of us."

Obama's plan includes $75 million to equip police with body cameras. He
also announced an executive order to tighten rules on the provision of
military-grade equipment to local police, but vowed to leave the
transfers mostly intact. Speaking in Atlanta, Georgia, Attorney General
Eric Holder also announced steps to curb racial profiling. We will have
more on the protests and the Obama administration's response after
headlines.

 

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