“Civil rights leader John Lewis is survived by a generation of changemakers, ready to take up the baton. In recent years, new leaders have emerged across the United States to champion rights – not just for African Americans, but also in the fields of migration and gender. They are using politics, social media campaigns and publishing in new ways to…
During an appearance on CNN this Tuesday, retired Los Angeles police sergeant Cheryl Dorsey slammed President Trump’s Rose Garden speech in the wake of his signing of an executive order creating a federal database of police officer accused of using excessive force. “So here’s the deal — more psychobabble from this president,” Dorsey said. “It means nothing for ground pounders,…
BY LOUREEN AYYOUB LOS ANGELES PUBLISHED 3:55 PM ET JUN. 13, 2020 UPDATED 4:13 PM ET JUN. 13, 2020 LOS ANGELES – According to former Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Cheryl Dorsey, today’s protests against racial injustice are continuing because nothing has changed since the 1990s. Sgt. Dorsey served during the L.A. riots in the 90s and said she always…
By Alicia Lee, CNN Updated 12:04 PM ET, Mon June 8, 2020 (CNN)De Lacy Davis remembers the moment vividly. The New Jersey officer and a fellow officer were patrolling the streets of East Orange when a black woman and her daughter accidentally stepped in front of their police cruiser. The other officer, who was white, rolled down his window. “What…
Protests over injustice and the police killing of George Floyd have lasted six days in California. LAPD Chief Michel Moore said on Monday, “We saw roving groups of individuals who were not compliant with the curfew, and we believe were out to loot and prey on businesses in our community.” He continued saying that officers arrested 700 people during Sunday…
While our nation reels from mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, as well as Gilroy, Calif., I have been heartened that most commentators, pundits and presidential candidates have refrained from leaping to the ignorant view, spouted most notably by Donald Trump, that the perpetrators were “very, very seriously mentally ill.” Thankfully, more and more members of the media…
Every 12 minutes in the United States, there is one death by suicide.* Each year, 125 -150 police officers die by suicide ― almost triple the number killed by criminals, and double that of traffic crashes. September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a reminder of the urgent need for open, honest dialogue around mental health issues that can lead…
In the past year, there have been multiple high-profile incidents of white people getting caught threatening to call the cops on people of color for engaging in everyday, normal activities: swimming in a pool; eating lunch; using food stamps; feeding the homeless, to name just a few recent examples. In addition to traumatizing people with unnecessary police encounters, calling 911 when…
July 05, 2018 A Conversation with Sgt. Cheryl Dorsey (Ret.) of the Los Angeles Police Department. Read Part I Here. Monica Westfall: Do you think there’s a gap in use-of-force training that allows officers to plead that they feared for their lives when they face murder charges for use of force – in killing unarmed black men in particular? And what…
Monica Westfall: In one interview, you said that you “try to prepare folks going into the force to know what really goes down.” What do you believe to be the biggest difference in what new recruits encounter in training versus what really goes down? Sgt. Cheryl Dorsey (Ret.): Well, it’s probably not that different from any other occupation, I would…