I’m publishing the letter below by David J.Harris who is the Managing Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and a lecturer at Harvard Law School. He has extensive experience in many facets of civil rights issues and currently chairs the Massachusetts Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Harris wrote the letter below to the Boston Globe who did not publish it. However, I think it is important enough to publish, and call out the Globe, once again, for its failure to heed community voices that put their reporting under the microscope.
Here is the letter:
“The August 13 editorial page [of the Boston Globe] was a great example of public debate. Indeed, the two articles on qualified immunity for police revealed the difference between reform and real change as clearly as possible. The first article endorses the state senate bill (Equal justice requires lawmakers reform qualified immunity for police) that tinkers with the process by creating a “reasonable officer standard” to determine the merit of a claim. Such a standard, which sadly and dangerously validates existing police practices as normative, is justified as a means to protect officers from “frivolous” lawsuits.
The second perspective, (Lawmakers should show the political courage to end qualified immunity) cites Federal legislation that calls for a complete end to this form of police protection (we should call it what it is: unqualified impunity); and in doing so seeks to protect members of society from the wanton and brutal mistreatment by police. Frivolity or brutality.
It seems a simple choice to tolerate a chance of frivolity to create accountability for brutality and misconduct. If that takes courage, it’s time for our legislators to muster some.