On Sunday afternoon in Minnesota, Daunte Wright was shot and killed by police after being pulled over, allegedly due to air fresheners hanging in his rearview mirror.

Daunte should still be alive today.

Black people living in America are constantly at risk of state-sponsored violence and death.

This is reprehensible and deeply unjust.

Police still exist to uphold white supremacy.

They have been empowered by laws and the courts to inject themselves into Black life for any reason, no matter how minor — even dangling air fresheners.

As police continue to act as an occupying force and mechanism for social control in Black communities, horrific acts of police violence like this will be commonplace.

No legal reform or departmental policy change will alter this dichotomy.

No amount of training will prevent situations like this from happening.

Throwing more money at police departments has never resulted in an end to police violence.

They purport to serve, but in reality, they just harm.

The only way to end the scourge of police violence is to immediately divest from policing institutions.

We must end the criminal enforcement of low-level offenses.

We must reallocate taxpayer money into harm-reducing solutions.

We must reinvest in Black and Brown communities.

Daunte Wright’s killing is one of over 260 police killings that have taken place in just the first three and a half months of 2021.

It’s far past time for real action. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-statement-police-shooting-daunte-wright?initms_aff=nat&initms_chan=soc&utm_medium=soc&initms=210412_tw&utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=&utm_content=210412_criminallaw&ms_aff=nat&ms_chan=soc&ms=210412_tw