Sisters of Black Texans killed by police say Trump needs to support stronger reforms
Allisa Findley, Botham Jean’s sister, said family members of those who suffered fatal encounters with police agreed the night before not to attend the signing ceremony Tuesday for President Trump’s executive order on police reform.
Trump met with family members of people killed by police officers prior to the signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Findley said. There was concern among families who were to meet with Trump that their images would be turned into a political prop, she said.
“It was a concern that our visit would be used as a photo op,” Findley said. “I made it clear that I did not want to be in any photos and did not want to attend the ceremony in the Rose Garden.”
Family members at the meeting told the president stories about the lives of their loved ones, Findley said, while Trump responded with empathy. Findley’s brother Botham Jean, a Black man, was shot and killed in his apartment by Amber Guyger, a white Dallas police officer. Guyger has said she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own and thought he was an intruder.
When Findley mentioned that Guyger was sentenced to 10 years on her murder conviction, Trump said that there should be a federal investigation, according to Findley.
“’We need to do something about that,”’ Trump replied, according to Findley.
Findley said she doubted that Trump’s empathy was genuine.
“Just moments after he met with families crying over the loss of their loved ones, he walked outside and commended police officers,” Findley said. “I have no faith that he can do the job that I want him to do.”
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Had she gone to the signing ceremony for President Trump’s executive order on police reform Tuesday, Ashley Carr said she would have told him about her sister’s story, but nothing more.
Carr, sister of Atatiana Jefferson, a Black woman killed by a white Fort Worth police officer while standing in her own home, said she was invited to the ceremony because her family is represented in a civil case by attorney Lee Merritt. But she was not able to attend because her plane arrived in Washington D.C. late.
Trump has a role to play in assuring that police culture and policy change in a way that is more than superficial, Carr said.
“I want justice for my sister and real reform, not just moves to pacify the situation, but a movement toward a new America,” Carr said. “You have to upgrade your learning. Things have changed and progressed. If you just do what you have done before, you will stay stagnant, and we need to grow.”
Trump’s executive order encouraged police departments to increase use-of-force training and bolster a national database to track police misconduct.
Trump said he met with the family members of Jean and others who died at the hands of police prior to making the announcement.
Merritt, one of the attorneys representing Atatiana Jefferson’s and Botham Jean’s families, tweeted that Trump committed to conduct independent federal investigations into cases involving the loss of Black lives at the hands of police, but tempered public expectations in the same tweet.
“This commitment is not currency,” Merritt’s tweet said. “This commitment does not help save lives in the future but potentially will help these families get justice.”
Trump signed the order weeks after the killing of George Floyd, who died after Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, and weeks after protests over Floyd’s death erupted worldwide.
Jefferson, who was babysitting her nephew when a neighbor called police because he noticed doors were open at her home, was shot by Fort Worth Police Officer Aaron Dean, who resigned and whose murder trial is pending.
Trump’s executive order also tries to use federal grant funding to persuade police to rally around a set of national best practices.
“Reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals,” Trump said in the Rose Garden, according to a Washington Post story. “They are not mutually exclusive. They work together. ... That is why today I’m signing an executive order encouraging police departments nationwide to adopt the highest professional standards to serve their communities. These standards will be as high and as strong as there is on Earth.”
Flanked by members of law enforcement, Trump stressed the need to respect and support “the brave men and women in blue who police our streets and keep us safe,” an Associated Press story said. Trump spoke out against those who committed violence during the largely peaceful protests while hailing the vast majority of officers as selfless public servants, according to the Associated Press.
It’s more difficult for the sisters of Jefferson and Jean to see law enforcement officers as heroes.
“I refuse to call 911 for anything,” Findley said. “I prefer to take my chances with a burglar than invite police into my home. I’m not going to take this executive order filled with lukewarm policies and take it as a victory. We need to so so much more. ... The system needs to do so much more.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
