Archbishop Lori to take part in virtual town hall on police reform

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori will join Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison and local elected officials for a virtual town hall Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. about police reform.

Sponsored by the Maryland Catholic Conference, the online event is the second of two forums to discuss police reforms in the wake of unprecedented nationwide demonstrations calling for sweeping changes in the criminal justice system.

State. Del. Samuel “Sandy” Rosenberg and State Sen. Jill Carter, both Democrats who represent Northwest Baltimore, will also take part.

The issues of police accountability and reform have been front and center this year as millions of people have participated in protests across the country after the deaths of black people at the hands of police officers. Despite also being the name of a political organization, the slogan “Black lives matter” has become synonymous with the massive protest movement.

Although protests over police brutality and racial justice have been prominent in recent years – including protests and violence after the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015 – the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in the spring of 2020 have heightened concerns.

Cities across the country saw widespread protests and some civil unrest – including the destruction of property – in the early summer. Protests in Baltimore, unlike in 2015, have largely been peaceful.

Floyd was killed by police officers during an arrest in Minneapolis in May. The officers involved were fired and now face criminal charges. Video of one of former officer, Derek Chauvin, pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck, choking him, sparked outrage around the world.

Taylor was killed after police officers carrying out a search warrant shot her in her apartment in Lexington, Ky., in March. Critics and witnesses say the officers failed to announce their presence, causing the fatal shooting; state officials insist the officers identified themselves. Officials have declined to press murder charges against the Lexington officers.

Over the last several years, Archbishop Lori has been an outspoken advocate on the issues of racial justice, and in recent months, he led an interfaith prayer vigil in downtown Baltimore in June, has delivered several homilies and has written in support of racial justice.

 “The words ‘Black Lives Matter’ ought to remind us that every Black person is made in God’s image and is endowed with inviolable dignity, from the moment of conception until natural death,” Archbishop Lori wrote in America Magazine in July.

The archbishop has said he believes the racial justice issue is essentially a pro-life issue.

“We cannot say we are fully ‘pro-life’ if we routinely overlook the conditions in which far too many people of color live,” he wrote.

Some liberal activists have called for police departments to have less funding, forcing some of the current workload of police officers to be shifted to other government agencies. Others, such as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, oppose the “defund the police” movement but have called for other reforms.

Visit www.mdcatholic.org/townhall for more information. Both the Maryland Catholic Conference and the Archdiocese of Baltimore will share the livestream of the event on their Facebook pages.

Email Tim Swift at tswift@catholicreview.org

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