Rep. Ayanna Pressley is calling on every state legislator to strike down amendments to the police reform bill requested by Gov. Charlie Baker, who disagreed with the bill's proposal to limit the use of facial recognition technology. She told Boston Public Radio on Friday these are modest proposals.
“I’m calling on all state legislators to strike down these amendments, they’re weakening what is already a modest proposal given the depth of the hurt caused by generations of brutality caused by police, unchecked.”
Baker sent the bill back to lawmakers yesterday with amendments that strip the bill of restrictions banning all agencies except the Registry of Motor Vehicles from using any software that captures biometric data, including facial recognition software. Pressley said this technology has been proven to be racially biased and has no place in policing as it contributes to the over-surveillance of communities of color.
Facial recognition technology "has already been proven to be biased, racist technology. The whole reason why we have the crisis of police brutality and mass incarceration has everything to do with communities that have historically been under-resourced and over-surveilled and policed," accrding to Pressley.
Mattapan Rep. Russell Holmes, a member of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, told GBH News Thursday he favors compromise. "I think," Holmes said, "they can work through the concerns that [Baker] has and figure out from what he said what would make sense to us and send him something that I think he wants. Clearly, he wants to sign a bill."
Pressley also discussed Congress' continued battle over stimulus negotiations. On Thursday, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a bipartisan relief plan, as Congress remains gridlocked with Democrats pushing for direct cash infusions to Americans and Republicans advocating for corporate liability protections.
"It's just a further demonstration of how callous and disconnected they are from the hardship and devastation," she said of the stalemate, noting that projections for Massachusetts put anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 people at risk of eviction in coming months.
"We're talking about the likes of a tent city," she said.
Pressley also mentioned the Trump administration's renewal of federal executions, a policy which had been stagnant for 17 years. Trump has continued executions even during the presidential transition, which is unprecedented.
"The legacy of Donald Trump and this administration, and these calloused cowards who have carried his water in this GOP-led senate, is one of death," she said. "In this country we have history of treating trauma with more trauma, and I don't believe state-sanctioned murder is justice."
Pressley said she would be re-introducing her bill to abolish the death penalty and will be lobbying the Biden-Harris administration to immediately sign an executive order halting executions.
