Governance

Wage stagnation, low-paying jobs and bleak prospects for the future. These are some of the economic issues affecting the vast majority of income earners in America — including most white workers — as a result of racism.

Most people could care less about the inner workings of economics. Unless, of course, it begins to impact their jobs, their income and their wealth.

In the same way, many white people in America do not care about racial equity in the criminal justice system, police bias against minorities, or police brutality against black people. Why? Because in their minds, these issues do not affect them.

But they do.

Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Task Force on Policing Reform has started its work, drawing on a very broad set of local leaders, activists and citizens. A series of similar task forces were launched in Los Angeles in the 1990s, all of which arose from controversies and scandals within the LAPD. What can Houston learn from LA’s “blue ribbon” police task forces?