His vivid firsthand experiences on the job as a police officer are recounted extensively in Adam Plantinga’s new book.
Criminal Justice
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
After weeks of protest and calls to defund the police, where do we go from here?
“The blueprint for transformation and liberation is already available,” she said. “The question that remains is: Will those in power use it?”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Fatal bias in Minneapolis?
Minneapolis police have used force against African-American residents seven times more often than against white residents over the past five years, reports Kevin Clarke.
Posted inFaith, News
Vatican arrests businessman in shady London real estate deal
It’s the first arrest in a nearly yearlong investigation into the deal, which has convulsed the Vatican, raised questions about Pope Francis’ seven-year financial reform effort and exposed Machiavellian turf battles at the Holy See.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Breonna Taylor lived and died in a part of the U.S. where rights do not matter
The police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville was another example of how geographic and racial partitions deny human rights to certain American citizens, writes Joseph S. Flipper of Bellarmine University.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Catholics in Twin Cities grappling with Floyd’s death, related rioting
Karen Bohaty, who lives in south Minneapolis, said she was aghast at what happened to Floyd, but was angry about the related riots and the destruction across the Twin Cities.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Bishops call racism a ‘real and present danger’ in aftermath of death of George Floyd in Minneapolis
“We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life,” the bishops said. “We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Iowa bishop says pandemic should prompt release of Guatemalan detainees
Bishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Davenport, Iowa has called for the release of three Guatemalan immigrant detainees as the pandemic places them in “a very vulnerable situation.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Archbishop says Floyd video ‘gut wrenching,’ urges respect for all people
The video of a Minneapolis police office pressing his knee on the neck of a handcuffed African American man has elicited expressions of shock, outrage, and pain throughout the country, including from the religious community.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
There are no ‘throwaway lives’: Catholic leaders respond to Covid-19 behind bars
Another near-invisible community similarly faces a serious and disproportionate threat from Covid-19; the people who live and work behind bars in the United States.