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Daunte Wright Should Never Have Been Stopped

Protestors demonstrate in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota after the shooting death of Daunte Wright.
On At Liberty, Paige Fernandez and Somil Trivedi respond to Daunte Wright鈥檚 death.
Protestors demonstrate in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota after the shooting death of Daunte Wright.
Yael Sheinfeld,
Communications Intern,
桃子视频
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April 16, 2021

The story of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, shot and killed by Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police after being pulled over for minor traffic violations on Sunday, is heartbreakingly familiar. It is so familiar, in fact, that protests are happening just 10 miles from the courtroom where Derek Chauvin is on trial for the death of George Floyd. Police interactions with citizens shouldn鈥檛 end in death, and yet hundreds die at the hands of police every year. In order to protect and serve Black Americans, we need immediate solutions.

What do these solutions look like? To Paige Fernandez, the ACLU鈥檚 policing policy advisor, and Somil Trivedi, senior staff attorney with the ACLU鈥檚 Criminal Law Reform Project, solutions lie in the decriminalization of low-level offenses, divestment from the police, and reinvestment in community resources. Fernandez and Trivedi joined At Liberty to discuss the reality of policing in America and what comes next. We also hear from activists on the ground in Minnesota.

鈥淐rime is, first of all, a social construct,鈥 said Fernandez. 鈥淎nd second of all, it's not random. People have to engage in it when we can't meet their needs. So I think there really needs to be a focus on: How do we allow people to thrive in this country?鈥

鈥淧olicing targets overwhelmingly low income people,鈥 she added. 鈥淪o what if we provided them with the resources to have a job that pays them well, a living wage, and provides them with housing? So many of the criminal laws on the book criminalize poverty.鈥

Daunte Wright Should Never Have Been Stopped

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