Nearly two years after the killing of George Floyd by an arresting officer in Minneapolis, our country continues to struggle with police violence and efforts to reform a criminal justice system fraught with racial injustice. Communities across America – Black communities in particular – still see and fear threats to their freedom, to their safety, to their lives.

In an extraordinary community forum, local leaders and national experts examine the troubling patterns of violent discriminatory policing and how, through collaboration, we can build a more restorative justice system. Presentations and discussions revolve around the 21 Pillars for Redefining Public Safety and Restoring Community Trust drawn up by the National Urban League.

National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial and Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, examine the issues. And Donald Cravins Jr., the National Urban League’s executive vice president and COO, moderates a panel discussion.

Joining Cravins on the panel are:

• Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker
• Shanette Hall, a member of the board of St. Louis County’s Ethical Society of Police 
• Attorney, political commentator, and former South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers
• Ryan Sorrell, publisher of The Kansas City Defender and co-founder of the local activist group Black Rainbow 
• Jerika Richardson, the National Urban League’s senior vice president for equitable justice and strategic initiatives 

The National Urban League’s 21 Pillars range from the revision of divisive policing policies, including bans on chokeholds, no-knock warrants, and shooting at moving vehicles, to the creation or strengthening of independent, all-civilian review boards to raise police accountability. They “will move us closer to a world where community safety is real and not aspirational,” Morial says.