For all those who say athletes should stick to sports: STFU. Their actions will force a dialogue and uncomfortable conversations that have needed to happen for a long time. The uprisings in the streets have done the same. To athletes and protestors everywhere: THANK YOU.

It will likely be a while before we get to our ultimate goals - whatever those may be - we may not see them happen in our lifetime. But as someone who has been doing the work I do for decades, the same way it’s always been done, and not really getting anywhere?

There has been more movement since the uprisings began in May - in other words, in 4 months - than in the last 40 years. In Connecticut, the land of steady habits, the legislature passed and the governor signed a police accountability & transparency bill. Connecticut!

Is that bill what I want it to be? No, it isn’t. I testified against two specific sections of the bill because I think one represents discrimination and the other represents misguided reliance on a parallel system that relies on coercion. https://www.cga.ct.gov/jud/related/20200717_LCO%20No.%203471%20An%20Act%20Concerning%20Police%20Accountability/Testimony%20-%20Kathleen%20M.%20Flaherty.pdf

From what I can tell, the one change I saw between the draft and the final bill - they changed mental health assessments to behavioral health assessments. [This is not a substantive change.]

A lot of the stuff you hear other people complaining about? That’s the stuff where I think we didn’t go far enough.

A lot of people need to learn to get very uncomfortable. You’re going to hear more and more things about the realities of people’s lives. You will hear things you may disbelieve, because they don’t represent your personal experience. AND THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT.

Pre-pandemic, one of the best things I had been doing was spending more time in the community with the people who actually live in the community. I spent more time being quiet and listening. [For those who know me IRL, this was a challenge.]

And some of what I heard made me uncomfortable. It was counter to everything I had always been told; things I had advocated for in my job, because I was trained by the lawyers who came before me that those things represented something beneficial for our clients.

And I heard how those things may have been good for a few individual people but led to the devastation of communities. That. Blew. My. Mind.

Made me realize I need to do a whole lot more listening. And boosting more diverse voices. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do the last year or so.

And I’ve been doing a lot more reading. Trying to learn about a whole lot of stuff. I’ve been sick since March, and only working part-time, so have had more time to do that.

Highly recommend.