# data[].attributes.body
Will the allocation of police funding to other resources (such as social services) help create a better relationship between the police and their communities?

# data[].attributes.body
This novel by Kekla Magoon follows the story of a community rattled by the death of Tariq, a young African-American boy murdered at the hands of a white police officer. Told from multiple perspectives, the community tries to make sense of the tragedy by piecing together multiple accounts of the event.

# data[].attributes.body
This poem by Donte Collins speaks of the anxiety that many in the African-American community feel knowing that their lives can be prematurely ended at the hands of police. It speaks of various victims from the past (such as Sandra Bland), and features emotionally resonant lines such as "I say I matter, and a ghost white hand appears over my mouth."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
lately, when asked how are you, i
respond with a name no longer living

Rekia, Jamar, Sandra

i am alive by luck at this point. i wonder
often: if the gun that will unmake me
is yet made, what white birth

will bury me, how many bullets, like a
flock of blue jays, will come carry my black
to its final bed, which photo will be used

to water down my blood. today i did
not die and there is no god or law to
thank. the bullet missed my head

and landed in another. today, i passed
a mirror and did not see a body, instead
a suggestion, a debate, a blank

post-it note there looking back. i
haven't enough room to both rage and
weep. i go to cry and each tear turns

to steam. I say I matter and a ghost
white hand appears over my mouth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
lately, when asked how are you, irespond with a name no longer living Rekia, Jamar, Sandra i am alive by luck at this point. i wonderoften: if the gun that will unmake meis yet made, what white birth will bury me, how many bullets, like aflock of blue jays, will come carry my blackto its final bed, which photo will be used to water down my blood.

# data[].attributes.body
This novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes tells the story of a young 12 year old boy who is unlawfully killed by the police. The story is told from the perspective of Jerome's ghost as he watches the communities reaction and mourning of his death.

# data[].attributes.body
How can the police repair their relationship with the African-American community going forward? Is it possible at this point, or the damages irreparable?

# data[].attributes.body
This 2017 film directed by Kathryn Bigelow is about the 12th Street riots, a conflict between African-American Vietnam veterans and the Detroit police force.The historic aspect of this film portrays just how long police brutality has affected the black community.

# data[].attributes.body
This novel by Angie Thomas is focused on the life of Starr Carter, a young African-American girl who is traumatized after witnessing her best friend murdered by the police. The ensuing court case finds the officer innocent, leading to riots and mass conflict.

# data[].attributes.headline
46 Stops: On 'The Driving Life And Death Of Philando Castile'

# data[].attributes.subject
46 Stops: On 'The Driving Life And Death Of Philando Castile'

# data[].attributes.body
Recorded in 2016, this NPR podcast details the life of Philando Castile, who was killed during a traffic stop. The episode details the disproportionate amount of traffic stops African-Americans face as opposed to what most Whites endure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
subscribe to Code Switch podcast

subscribe to Code Switch podcast

In the two weeks since Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer in Minnesota after being pulled over for a broken taillight, we've learned that for Castile, routine traffic stops were far more routine than many people might imagine.

For our latest podcast episode, which you can hear above, Code Switch's Gene Demby spoke to NPR reporters Cheryl Corley and Eyder Peralta, who took a closer look at the circumstances surrounding Castile's death. They found that in his 14 years of driving, Castile was pulled over at least 46 times by police.

"Basically, Philando Castile was stopped from the very moment he got his license, through the moment of his death. That was his last stop," says Peralta. "He just seems to go through these cycles where there's just fine after fine after fine, stop after stop after stop ... And only six of them are from something you would actually notice from something outside the vehicle."

Experts told us that many black men in Minnesota get caught in a pattern of repeated traffic stops, fines and license suspensions - which leads to more stops, fines, suspensions and sometimes arrest. Peralta says that even in a two-year period when Castile wasn't getting pulled over, he was paying outstanding traffic fines, which sometimes added up to $500 a month.
Landscape of an arrest
Corley went to Minnesota to try to better understand the landscape in which this all was happening. "You have St. Paul, the city proper, twin city along with Minneapolis, and then you have a ring of suburbs around it," she says. She explained that Larpenteur Avenue is the dividing line between St. Paul and many of its surrounding suburbs. Castile was driving on Larpenteur and Fry, in the suburb of Falcon Heights, when he was pulled over for the last time.

That geography is important because, according to Myron Orfield, a professor of civil rights and civil liberties law at the University of Minnesota, policing in the suburbs looks very different from policing in the cities. Orfield has been studying bias in policing since 2003. He talked to Peralta about his findings.

"In the inner cities, say in St. Paul, black and brown people are no more likely to be stopped by police. They're slightly more likely. But as soon as you cross [Larpenteur Avenue], into the suburbs, into the mostly white suburbs, they're sometimes up to seven times more likely to be stopped," Peralta says.
Systems at work
Corley spoke to an attorney in Minneapolis who often works with people fighting traffic violations. That lawyer and his colleagues work with thousands of clients a year, but even he was surprised at the number of times Castile was pulled over. Still, Corley says, other folks she spoke to in Minneapolis accept that being pulled over regularly as a black man is just a fact of life. "The phrase that many people use is 'Driving while black,'" Corley says.

They also talked to Eric Sandvick, a public defender who actually represented Castile for one of his traffic stops. Sandvick says that what Castile went through was part of a larger system. "I don't remember enough about him specifically to speak of his character or anything like that. But I think what Mr. Castile symbolizes for a lot of us working in public defense is that driving offenses are typically just crimes of poverty. And Mr. Castile's story is one that repeats itself countless times throughout the court system," said Sandvick.

Sandvick explained that traffic stops can result in low-level misdemeanor offenses, and those charges can come with a suspension of one's driver's license. For poor people, getting that license back can mean spending time and money they don't have. In the meantime, they still have to go to work, pick up kids, get the groceries. So, Sandvick says, they often just keep driving.

Then, if they get pulled over again, they might end up facing a much more serious offense, in possible jail time.

Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, said Castile was driving home from the grocery store with her and her 4-year-old daughter when they got stopped. Not long after, Castile was dead.
Need for change
Some police officers in Minnesota have concerns about the way the system works. Paul Schnell, a police chief in Maplewood, a neighboring Minnesota suburb, spoke to Corley about the "brutal cycle" he says many motorists go through. He didn't know exactly what changes should be made, but told Corley that it was time for the legal establishment to recognize that there's a problem with the sheer number of stops that are happening.

"[ The St. Anthony Police] have acknowledged that these numbers look bad. And what they're talking about is that half of the people that their department arrests are black, but blacks only make up 7 percent of the patrol area. They acknowledge that this is a problem, but it's complex, and they don't quite get into how they're trying to fix it," Peralta says.

You can check out this episode over at NPR's podcast directory, and on iTunes and other places podcasts are found.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
46 Stops: On 'The Driving Life And Death Of Philando Castile'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
subscribe to Code Switch podcast subscribe to Code Switch podcast In the two weeks since Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer in Minnesota after being pulled over for a broken taillight, we've learned that for Castile, routine traffic stops were far more routine than many people might imagine.

# data[].attributes.body
This novel by Nic Stone is about a young black student named Justyce McCallister, who after a brutal interaction with the police begins to question his place in the world, and the repercussions of growing up as a black man in America. He begins to write letters to the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. to make sense of things.

# data[].attributes.body
This TED Talk is hosted by Melvin Russell, a Lieutenant for the Baltimore police department. During his presentation, he advocates for the police to stray away from the "cold, callous, and dehumanized" approach that is prominent in the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Melvin Russell: I love being a police officer, but we need reform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We've invested so much in police departments as protectors that we have forgotten what it means to serve our communities, says Baltimore Police officer Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell. It's led to coldness and callousness, and it's dehumanized the police force.

# data[].attributes.body
This is a song from Run the Jewel's 2020 album RTJ 4. The second verse by Killer Mike details various social justice issues, but it is primarily focused on the school-to-prison pipeline, police brutality, and disproportionate incarceration of blacks in the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Run The Jewels - walking in the snow (Art Video)

# data[].attributes.body
This news broadcast is centered on the George Floyd police reform law that was just passed. It bans the use of chokeholds as a means of detaining individuals, and creates a national database of police misconduct.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
House Passes Police Reform Bill Named After George Floyd | NBC Nightly News