América del Norte/Estados Unidos/21-05-2021/Autor(a) y Fuente: www.cibercuba.com

Seis escuelas públicas de Miami acogerán centros de vacunación para niños mayores de 12 años sin previa cita, pero acompañados de sus padres o un tutor.

Escuelas del condado de Miami-Dade abrieron este sábado como centros de vacunación contra el Covid-19, en los que se podrán vacunar los niños y adolescentes mayores de 12 años.

La vacuna que será suministrada en los 6 centros escolares escogidos será la Pfizer BioNTech, que recientemente fue probada en niños de 12 a 15 años con resultados positivos.

Las escuelas donde podrán vacunarse los menores estarán abiertas desde de 9 a.m. hasta la 5 p.m., y la lista es la siguiente:

North Miami Senior High School, 1247 NE 167th Street

Miami Jackson Senior High School, 1751 NW 36th Street

Miami Sunset Senior High School, 13125 SW 72nd Street

Homestead Senior High School: 2351 SE 12th Ave, Homestead, FL 33035

Centro Educativo Robert Morgan: 18180 SW 122nd Ave, Miami, FL 33177

Hialeah Gardens Senior High School: 11700 Hialeah Gardens Blvd, Hialeah Gardens, FL 33018

No es necesario que los menores de 18 años deban obtener una cita para asistir a vacunarse, pero deberán asistir a la cita con sus padres o con un tutor que deberá completar un formulario de detección y consentimiento de la vacuna contra el coronavirus. Con solo dar click aquí puede tener acceso.

En adición, los empleados, estudiantes y padres de todas las escuelas públicas y privadas de Miami-Dade podrán recibir la vacuna de Pfizer a partir del jueves 20 de mayo, y las citas deben ser coordinadas a través de  M-DCPS en las ubicaciones antes citadas.

El pasado 10 de mayo, Estados Unidos autorizó el uso de la vacuna de Pfizer y BioNTech contra el COVID-19 para niños mayores de 12 años.

La nación norteña busca ampliar los números de las personas vacunadas en un momento cuando los índices de vacunación diarias se han ralentizado, y tras el objetivo del presidente Joe Biden de tener al 70 % del país vacunado antes de la celebración del 4 de Julio.

Fuente e Imagen: https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2021-05-16-u1-e207959-s27061-escuelas-miami-abren-centros-vacunacion-mayores-12-anos

El césped de los vecinos: la apertura de escuelas en California, ¿cuánto dinero recibirán los distritos a cambio reanudar clases presenciales?

Israel Moreno Salto

Publicado por: Pluma invitada

En los EE. UU existe un refrán popular que dice: “el césped del vecino siempre aparenta ser un poco más verde”. A un año del inicio de la suspensión indefinida de clases presenciales a consecuencia de la expansión del virus SARS–CoV–2, este refrán cobra mayor sentido en suelo mexicano debido a que se puede notar un claro aumento de presión blanda (soft pressure) basada en comparaciones externas por parte de algunos medios de comunicación masiva, grupos de la sociedad civil y académicos, por retomar clases presenciales. Estas presiones gravitan en torno a dos mecanismos principales: la externalización y la Teoría de Capital Humano. En esta nota me enfocaré en el primero, dado que el segundo ha sido ampliamente discutido.

El sociólogo de la educación Bob Lingard, entre otros, acuñan el término de externalización de manera crítica para hacer referencia no solo al acto de mirar al exterior para aprender, copiar o emular de las experiencias de los otros, sino para citar lo que sucede en el exterior con la finalidad de legitimar y dar valor a ciertas ideas, creencias e iniciativas en contextos nacionales, regionales y/o locales.  Cabe la pena señalar que debemos evitar estigmatizar a la externalización, sin embargo, toca ser híper-vigilantes y críticos de las formas en que se lleva a cabo. En el caso de los proponentes de “PRO-CLASES presenciales en México”, se puede observar una forma de externalización que despoja cuestiones fundamentales de contexto. En este sentido y debido a que gustan por citar casos de los EE. UU, es vital ofrecer al público mexicano datos contextuales duros para poder realizar comparaciones más justas. Limitaré mis comentarios a cuestiones de dinero, no obstante, reconozco que asuntos culturales son igual o más importantes y también requieren un espacio de reflexión.

El plan de rescate americano (ARPA por sus siglas en inglés), aprobado por el congreso de los EE. UU en marzo del presente año otorgó al estado de California 15.3 billones de dólares para repartirse entre la autoridad estatal educativa, los diferentes distritos escolares [1] (K12) de educación obligatoria (preescolar, primaria, secundaria y preparatoria), e instituciones de educación superior. Esta ayuda se granjea con la condición de que se retomen las clases presenciales en las escuelas [2]. Los distritos comenzaron a recibir los recursos desde el 27 de marzo del 2021 y esperan que las y los estudiantes regresen a clases presenciales de manera voluntaria, escalonada y parcial el 5 de abril del año en curso. La Tabla 1 muestra los recursos en dólares americanos recibidos hasta el momento por algunos distritos.

Table 1

Distrito	Cantidad total de recursos	Apoyo por estudiante	Iniciativa CARES  Federal (27/03/2020)	Iniciativa CARES  Estatal (27/03/2020)	Iniciativa de alivio COVID (27/12/2021)	Iniciativa ARPA  (11/03/2021)
Los Angeles Unified	$4,737,973,310	$11,144	$349,400,229	$496,020,961	$1,207,592,257	$2,684,959,862
Fresno Unified	$719,991,935	$10,510	$52,688,949	$80,312,872	$182,102,820	$404,887,294
San Diego Unified	$524,263,339	$5,292	$37,051,275	$74,436,092	$128,056,106	$284,719,866
Sacramento City Unified	$269,434,033	$6,919	$19,149,925	$36,941,142	$66,185,707	$147,157,259
South San Francisco Unified	$15,067,293	$1,833	$841,028	$4,929,221	$2,884,236	$6,412,808

Fuente: https://edsource.org/2021/california-districts-and-charter-schools-get-covid-relief-funding-under-american-rescue-plan-act/650922

La cantidad total de recursos equivale a la suma de los tres apoyos gubernamentales recibidos desde que inició la pandemia hasta la fecha. En el caso del apoyo especial derivado de la iniciativa ARPA, dichos recursos deben emplearse para distintos fines, entre ellos: ayudar a los estudiantes a recuperar los conocimientos perdidos durante la pandemia, profesionalización docente, insumos para la limpieza, planes de prevención, compra de equipo de cómputo en preparación para futuros cierres, servicios de apoyo de salud mental, programas de extensión de horario de clases, sistemas de ventilación y mejoramiento de aire, entre otros permitidos por el marco de las leyes vigentes[2].  El distrito escolar Gallup-McKinley del estado de Nuevo México emplea 2.6 millones de dólares del incentivo federal parar cubrir el gasto de robots automatizados que realizan la limpieza de 32 escuelas y dos oficinas administrativas [3].

Esta maniobra extraordinaria que sin duda alguna es un enorme apoyo al pueblo de los EE. UU, generará eco y efectos diversos en países en vías de desarrollo que voltean al norte en búsqueda de guía. En este sentido, es posible augurar todavía mayor presión en México para que se retomen las clases presenciales. Como consecuencia de lo anterior y debido a la escasez de recursos, surgen de manera “natural” dos preguntas difíciles: ¿Se debe adquirir deuda pública parar garantizar un regreso menos riesgoso a clases presenciales?, ¿se debe regresar a clases con los escasos recursos existentes? Por supuesto que los bancos con fachada de organismos internacionales recibirán con brazos abiertos la primera pregunta, la cual según varios académicos es poco probable que el gobierno federal en México plantee debido a su política de austeridad. En cambio, la segunda cuestión se da por sentada, aunque ello signifique poner en riesgo la salud de algunos a cambio de la escolarización de muchos.

1. Unidad de organización y administración de escuelas en los Estados Unidos de América.
2. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319/text
3. https://www.ksbw.com/article/whoa-a-team-of-robots-are-hard-at-work-cleaning-classrooms-in-this-new-mexico-school-district/35971689?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwAR1COGI8hNNy5ryhMelvDVmv1QM4R403xP0o2Dpg1JmtalEExI7cSdggJ8Y#

Israel Moreno Salto es Doctor en Educación por la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Cambridge, actualmente es Profesor de la Facultad de Ciencias Humanas de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

Fuente de la Información: http://www.educacionfutura.org/el-cesped-de-los-vecinos-la-apertura-de-escuelas-en-california-cuanto-dinero-recibiran-los-distritos-a-cambio-reanudar-clases-presenciales/

Heart Study: Low- and Regular-Dose Aspirin Prove Safe, Effective

 

La cantidad de niños migrantes bajo custodia del Gobierno estadounidense se duplicó en los últimos dos meses y actualmente alberga al menos 21.000 menores. Una investigación de la agencia AP denuncia que pese a algunos cambios con respecto a las condiciones de estos menores bajo la presidencia de Donald Trump, la mayoría se encuentra hoy en instalaciones atestadas y en algunos casos con bajas condiciones de salubridad y falta de personal calificado para su cuidado.

América del Norte/Estados Unidos/14-05-2021/Autoras(es): Agencias – Enrique Carranza/Fuente: www.elsalvador.com

Kayleigh Kulage, de 5 años, nació con varios problemas de salud y enfrentaba múltiples tratamientos, incluidas cirugías y diálisis de hasta 11 horas.

El vínculo entre la maestra Robin Mach y su estudiante Kayleigh Kulage, de 5 años, trascendió a un punto inimaginable cuando la docente le donó uno de sus riñones.

De acuerdo con la publicación a People, revista que difundió el caso, Kayleigh Kulage nació con varios problemas de salud y enfrentaba múltiples tratamientos, incluidas cirugías, diálisis.

En un momento Kayleigh Kulage fue diagnosticada con ceguera parcial, un sistema inmunológico comprometido y varios problemas renales. La complicación estaba en el punto de necesitar 11 horas de tratamiento de diálisis diariamente. Además urgía un riñón.

Cuando alcanzó la edad y el peso indicado, los padres de Kayleigh Kulage comenzaron a buscar un posible donador. Sin esperarlo y después de tiempo sin ayuda, recibieron la noticia que Robin Mach, maestra de educación especial de la primera infancia, donaría un riñón para su alumna.

“No lo pensé dos veces. Sabía que Kayleigh realmente lo necesitaba, así que dije ‘¿por qué no intentarlo?’”, narró la profesora de 46 años.

Tras meses de estudios para saber si la profesora era compatible, todo marcó a su favor.

“Me sentí tan aliviada y emocionada cuando me enteré, porque el riñón de Kayleigh provenía de alguien que conocíamos”, dijo la madre de la niña a  People.

Fue en febrero cuando Kayleigh y Mach se sometieron a la intervención médica: se logró el exitoso trasplante de riñón. El órgano de la profesora fue extirpado de un hospital de St. Louis. Después fue trasladado al Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.

Hasta el momento, la salud de Kayleigh ha mejorado notablemente gracias a la donación.

Es más, esperan que todo evolucione a a favor de ambas para pasar algunas vacaciones juntas.

Fuente e Imagen: https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/internacional/trasplante-rinon-estados-unidos-estudiante-profesora/836840/2021/

The Racial Reckoning Went Global Last Year. Here’s How Activists in 8 Countries Are Fighting for Justice

The wave of demonstrations had some impact. New South Wales, the Australian state that’s home to Sydney, launched a parliamentary inquiry into how deaths in custody are investigated, and the state of South Australia made it mandatory for police to notify the state’s Aboriginal Legal Service whenever an Aboriginal person is taken into custody. In late July, the federal government also announced a target of moving 15% of Indigenous adults out of prison by 2031.

But the problem persists. At least seven Aboriginal people have died in custody since the beginning of March, prompting one Australian senator to call the situation a “national crisis.” —Amy Gunia

Brazil

News of George Floyd’s murder reached a Brazil already deep in crisis over racial justice following the 2018 election of President Jair Bolsonaro. The far-right leader has compared Black people—who make up 56% of the country’s ­population—to cattle, celebrated police brutality in mostly Black favelas and tried to strip Indigenous communities of protections. Meanwhile COVID-19’s onslaught in Brazil, one of the worst-hit countries in the world, has killed Black people and wiped out their jobs at higher rates than for white people.

Black Brazilians’ protests brought unprecedented attention from the mostly white media to systemic racism in Brazil. In late 2020, several major companies introduced Black-only hiring programs. In November’s local elections, Black candidates outnumbered white ones for the first time.

Still, despite those changes, the path forward for antiracism advocates is rocky. In April 2020, local media unearthed a video lesson published by Rio de Janeiro’s state education body that claimed it was “unacceptable” to discuss racism in Brazil, arguing that high rates of interracial relationships made the term irrelevant. The President voiced the same sentiment in November, when protests broke out over the fatal beating of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, a Black father of four, by grocery-­store security guards in the city of Porto Alegre.

In the face of public denial, Black activist networks have become more active than ever, organizing to feed families struggling during the pandemic, overhaul the education system and protect neighborhoods from police violence. —Ciara Nugent

France

In July 2016, 24-year-old Adama Traoré was out walking, looking forward to celebrating his birthday later in the evening, when police apprehended him. Traoré, who was Malian-French, later died in police custody; his last words were reportedly “I can’t breathe,” the same as George Floyd’s final words. Protests erupted in Paris after Traoré’s death—and resurged last year when Floyd’s murder drew renewed attention to police violence around the same time that an independent autopsy commissioned by Traoré’s family ruled that Adama died of asphyxiation after being restrained.

Activists say Adama’s case is part of a long history of police brutality in France, where young Arab and Black men are 20 times as likely as white men to be stopped by law enforcement. In early June, tens of thousands of people defied coronavirus restrictions to protest in cities across France—with Adama’s sister, Assa, at the forefront of marches in Paris. As public outcry grew, France announced a ban on choke-hold arrest tactics on June 8.

Even after the protests, similar police behavior has continued; in November, a video emerged of three white police officers beating Black music producer Michel Zecler at his Paris studio. Mass protests and outrage ensued, particularly in response to proposed legislation that sought to criminalize those who distribute imagery of police officers in action.

“The Adama generation is on the street to speak out against police brutality, racial discrimination,” Assa Traoré told TIME late last year. Parliament approved an adapted version of that security bill, which extends police powers, in April, despite the outcry. —Suyin Haynes

India

The Black Lives Matter movement prompted a reckoning in India over colorism, discrimination against those with darker skin tones, which has deep roots in India’s caste system and colonial history. Last summer, after Priyanka Chopra joined Indian stars in voicing support for BLM, social media users pointed out she and many others had promoted whitening cosmetics. (Chopra had previously said she regrets endorsing these products early in her career.)

For years, activists had been speaking up about colorism in Indian ­culture—from Bollywood’s promotion of light-­skinned actors to the global multibillion-­dollar skin-whitening industry. In 2009, an Indian nonprofit started the “Dark Is Beautiful” campaign, endorsed by Bolly­wood actor Nandita Das, to raise awareness about color bias in schools and in the media.

The outcry of 2020 prompted some changes. The matchmaking service Shaadi.com stopped letting users sort by skin tone. But the road is long. While popular skin-lightening product Fair & Lovely changed its name to Glow & Lovely, the product’s formula remained the same. —Simmone Shah

Japan

Black Lives Matter marches held across Japan in June 2020 were both a gesture of solidarity with protesters in the U.S. and a call to confront racism at home. Much of the discussion in Japan has centered on discrimination toward biracial individuals, following multiple high-profile incidents of prejudice. In 2019, a Japanese comedy duo said tennis icon Naomi Osaka—who was born to a Haitian father and a Japanese ­mother—“needed some bleach.” And that wasn’t the first such incident: Ariana Miyamoto, whose father is African American and mother is Japanese, faced criticism after being crowned Miss Universe Japan in 2015. In a country that is largely ethnically homogenous, these incidents have prompted calls for recognizing the Japaneseness of biracial people. —Kat Moon

New Zealand

Elections in New Zealand in October 2020 brought to power one of the world’s most diverse governments. The first parliamentarians of African, Latin American and Sri Lankan heritage were voted in; almost half of the seats went to women; more than 10% of law­makers identify as LGBTQ. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Cabinet picks were no less ­diverse, including the country’s first Indigenous female Foreign Minister and first openly gay Deputy Prime Minister.

Representation for Maori people is also high. New Zealand’s original inhabitants, who make up some 17% of the population, now hold around 20% of parliament’s 120 seats and 25% of Cabinet positions. Among the new parliamentarians are two members of the Maori Party, which made a comeback after being ousted in 2017.

Fuente de la Información: https://time.com/6046299/fighting-injustice-world/

US Professor Who Found Stereotypes Influence Use of Deadly Force Inspires Police Reforms

WASHINGTON – Long before police brutality emerged as a dominant public issue in the United States, Cynthia Lee, a George Washington University professor and an expert on race and self-defense, devoted much of her research to deadly police shootings of unarmed Black men and women.

In a 2004 study, she concluded that stereotypes about African Americans, often working at a subconscious level, influenced a police officer’s split-second decision about whether to use deadly force, accounting for the disproportionately large number of Black victims in police shootings.

In 2018, she authored a groundbreaking law journal article on reforming laws governing police use of deadly force. Most states, she learned, allowed police officers to use deadly force as long as they had a «reasonable belief» in the need for such action.

This standard, however, allowed juries to believe that an officer’s use of force was justified even if it wasn’t necessary or proportional. Lee’s solution: changing the law to make it equally important to assess whether an officer’s actions leading up to a shooting were reasonable, and requiring the use of force to be necessary, proportionate and based on an immediate need.

At the time she wrote the article, Lee thought the chances of states adopting her model were «fairly slim.» But her work began to attract attention in the wake of incidents in which police officers killed African Americans while attempting to take them into custody, including the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis nearly a year ago, which touched off international protests and a push for police reform.

In the year since Floyd’s death, one city and two states — Washington, D.C., Virginia and Connecticut — have used Lee’s model to adopt stringent use of deadly force statutes. The measures were adopted as part of comprehensive police reform legislation.

In Delaware, members of the Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force have also expressed interest in her model, Lee said.

While Washington, Virginia and Connecticut account for only a handful of the more than 1,000 deadly police shootings a year in the U.S., reform advocates hope that these changes will help rein in police use of excessive force.

The controversy over police use of force is front and center on Capitol Hill, where Senate Democrats and Republicans are fighting over House-passed legislation that would end qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that protects individual police officers from lawsuits for misconduct. In March, the House approved the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that would, among other things, ban the use of chokeholds, strengthen federal civil rights laws and end qualified immunity.

Lee is hoping that her model statute finds its way into the national debate.

«It’s the kind of change we need because we need to make sure the police officers are treating people fairly and with respect and that people are not getting unnecessarily hurt or killed by the use of force,» said Democratic Virginia state Senator John Bell, an early supporter of Lee’s proposal.

Criticism of model statute 

Critics say the changes force juries to second-guess police officers’ split-second decisions on the use of deadly force, whether to fire a gun or wrestle a suspect to the ground or subdue him or her in some other life-threatening hold.

«They changed the law to say, ‘What would a civilian who looks at the use of force say about whether it was reasonable or not,'» said John Krupinsky, president of the Connecticut State Fraternal Order of Police.

Barry Friedman, a New York University law professor who has argued that a dearth of laws has left police to police themselves, praised Lee’s proposed reform.

«We need to pass statutes to tell the police specifically how it is that they should police, and her statute is an effort to do that,» he said.

While other states such as California, Colorado and Maryland, spurred by the Black Lives Matter protest movement, have enacted strict police use-of-force standards in the past couple of years, none stemmed from the work of Lee.

«Of course, you always hope that your research will have real-world impact,» Lee told VOA. «I wanted to inform discussions about policing, but I never imagined that my work would actually become law in any state, let alone two states and the District of Columbia.»

Given that juries largely remain sympathetic to police officers, Lee’s model statute is unlikely to lead to a sharp increase in convictions. Lee said it could have a deterrent effect, however, encouraging police officers to «act with more care» before using deadly force.

But changing police culture is likely to take time. The Washington statute has yet to be made permanent. The Virginia legislation went into effect March 1, while the Connecticut statute doesn’t take effect until next year.

Deadly force standard 

In the United States, the use of deadly force is governed both by a landmark 1989 Supreme Court decision known as Graham v. Connor and by individual state laws. The Supreme Court ruling requires that all claims of excessive force against a police officer be judged from the perspective of «an objectively reasonable officer.»

«It’s not your judgment or my judgment. It’s ‘how would a reasonably objective officer judge the situation,'» explained David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor.

For decades now, the high court ruling has served as the default standard for police use of deadly force in the country, Harris said. Every police officer in America is trained on its legal significance. When an officer is sued over excessive force in a civil case, it is Graham v. Connor that applies. But when an officer involved in a deadly shooting faces criminal charges, state criminal statutes take control, according to Lee.

At the time Lee conducted research for her model statute, only nine states and the District of Columbia did not have use of deadly force statues. Most of the other states focused solely on the reasonableness of an officer’s belief in the need to use deadly force. Consequently, instead of assessing an officer’s conduct, juries probe whether an officer’s fear of the suspect is reasonable: Was the suspect holding a gun? Was he or she resisting arrest?

«I felt that the real focus should be on the actions of the officer,» Lee said, «because the officer is the one on trial.»

To ensure an officer is held accountable, Lee’s model statute requires that juries consider whether an officer acted reasonably before using deadly force. But what makes an officer’s actions reasonable? Lee offers a couple of factors for a jury to consider.

First, the model instructs the jury to consider whether the officer used any de-escalation measures, such as trying to calm the suspect or using less-lethal force.

Second, it requires that jurors consider whether the officer’s conduct increased the risk of a deadly confrontation. Importantly, the statute allows the jury to consider the officer’s actions «before the moment in time» when the officer is fearing for his life.

Borrowing from self-defense law in civilian homicide cases, Lee’s model legislation allows the jury to find an officer guilty of manslaughter if the officer’s belief in the need to use force was «honest but unreasonable» or if the officer’s belief was reasonable but actions were unreasonable.

Applying the model 

To demonstrate how her model could alter the outcome of a deadly shooting case, Lee applied it to the 2014 police killing of Tamir Rice. Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy, had been carrying a replica toy gun when a white police officer arrived on the scene and almost immediately shot the youth. Two experts hired by Cleveland prosecutors applied the Supreme Court standard and concluded that the use of force in the case was justified.

But Lee said that a jury relying on her model statue could reach a different conclusion. The jury would note that by driving too closely to Rice, the officers put themselves in a vulnerable position, increasing the risk of using deadly force to protect themselves. Had they parked their car further away from the scene, they could have talked to the boy and convinced him to drop his gun, instead of «immediately firing on him.»

Lee’s model is hardly a recipe for radical change. To critics on the left, it doesn’t go far enough. Still, it took nothing short of Floyd’s death beneath the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin — and an enthusiastic outreach effort by Lee’s students — for legislators to take a close look at her model statute.

In January 2020, a former student, then working for District of Columbia Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, shared Lee’s model statute with her boss. But it wasn’t until after Floyd’s death that Lee learned that McDuffie had incorporated her measure into a use-of-force bill. Within days, the council unanimously adopted the statute as part of emergency police and justice reform legislation.

«I was floored when I found out that D.C. had enacted police reform legislation that included my model statute,» Lee said.

But the council took her statute one step further, she said. It held that police officers may use deadly force only after «all other options have been exhausted.»

«This was a great addition to my model statute,» Lee said.

Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, said many of the provisions in the district legislation had been enacted by the Metropolitan Police Department years ago.

«The MPD does not have issues with racial profiling or police brutality,» Pemberton said.
Less than a month after the District of Columbia adopted her model statute, an official in Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s office emailed Lee to inform her about proposed changes to the state’s use of deadly force statute based on her model legislation.

«I was surprised and pleased to learn that Connecticut was looking into adopting key provisions from my model statute,» Lee said.

In late July, Lamont, a Democrat, signed the bill into law, with an effective date of April 1. Shortly before the bill was to take effect, however, Lamont, under pressure from law enforcement groups, signed a bill delaying the effective date until January 1, 2022.

Around the time Connecticut lawmakers were debating changing the state’s use-of-force standards last year, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, called a special session of the state general assembly to meet on August 18 to pass criminal justice and policing reform.

At that time Virginia was one of nine states that didn’t have a use-of-force statute. So Lee drafted a model statute for Virginia, including the District of Columbia requirement that an officer exhaust all other options before using deadly force. She had her research assistant send the document to about a dozen lawmakers.

In October, Northam signed into law police reform legislation sponsored by state Senator Mamie Locke. It went into effect March 1. Unlike in Washington D.C. and Connecticut, law enforcement agencies were relatively open to the proposed changes.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said the group worked with state lawmakers «to make sure that there was a standard in there that allowed a law enforcement officer to protect his or her own life.»

Fuente de la Información: https://www.voanews.com/usa/race-america/us-professor-who-found-stereotypes-influence-use-deadly-force-inspires-police