From criminal justice position documents:

“In other words, while numbers can identify a disparity, they cannot explain the disparity.” The data Heather refers to show many discrepancies such as  in stops and arrests, but do not explain the discrepancies. Crime rates are absolutely a big part of the cause, but yes, not likely the entire cause. It will be a big mistake for the League to adopt language that asserts systemic bias. This assertion has become commonplace, but is not an explanation. We have to look deeper to find the reasons for discrepancies.

Last summer I listened to several city council meetings at which hundreds of citizens spoke briefly. Most were protesters urging the council to defund police by 50%. Many began their remarks by saying, " [Name], Black Lives Matter, ACAB, I support defunding..." How many of you know that ACAB means "All Cops Are Bastards?" Yup. My neighborhood is littered with ACAB graffiti, or just "Kill Cops." Asserting systemic bias while ignoring uncomfortable crime data fosters this attitude toward police. The fact is that the leading cause of death for young black men is homicide at the hands of other young black men. This is a tragedy, but we cannot ignore this if we care about black lives!

The last bullet point of the position statement is that the League will be guided by data. I contend that Bullet 2 is in conflict with this, especially if we acknowledge that numbers are only the beginning of our effort to develop an understanding of the story behind the numbers. I believe that we should never assume systemic bias without going deeply into the stories behind the numbers because the accusation of systemic bias divides us and is not conducive to solving the problem. 

For over a year, I have been dismayed by the focus on police as the main problem in our justice system. We (citizens) define crime, direct police to enforce the law, people get arrested, then suspects are routed through a criminal justice system with many flaws. We still need police! Seattle Police have been through years of oversight, they have made changes, data shows improvement as a result of changes in training, recruitment and supervision. 

All Cops Are Bastards? Kill Cops? Assume systemic bias? No.

(Please forgive typos.)

Heather, you can't silence me, so rest easy. 

We all suffer from confirmation bias. I have worked very hard in recent years to listen to people I don't agree with on first pass. One of the things I've learned is that there are, indeed, many instances of police killing white men in the say way as the viral videos of police killing black men. Here's a painful example.

https://youtu.be/_c-E_i8Q5G0

Crime has causes: poverty, family distress, mental health crises, and more. It is absurd, in my opinion, to focus only on policing without also focusing on crime, which is what police respond to. We cannot ignore the epidemic of homicides that take the lives of young black men at horrific rates. Police are called to, and respond to, "shots fired" every day. 

Again, I believe that asserting systemic bias in the second bullet which focuses on policing contributes to fear of police, suspects fleeing police or resisting arrest, and trashing my neighborhood with ACAB and Kill Police graffiti.

Again, I agree that there are many aspects of our criminal justice system that need to be addressed. Yes, I've read The New Jim Crow, The Color of Law, and Charged. I've also listened to black people who share my concerns, who taught me that Michael Brown was not killed while saying "hands up, don't shoot," who want more police, who have pointed me to examples of police interactions with white people that are comparable to the viral videos of George Floyd and others. 

I regret that the committee chose to put forward this position from California. I regret the second bullet. But I continue to believe that asserting systemic bias in a position that requires much more nuance will lead the League down a dangerous, unthinking path, exactly what the League tries to avoid.