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Setting Good Social Change Goals: The Problem of Police Brutality

No one in the United States can say they are totally ignorant of the issues surrounding last week's death of Black Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. This post is not about the incident, which has been covered in great depth by others. This post is about setting goals to pursue in the wake of Floyd's high-profile death. 

What do protestors want, exactly? This is probably unknowable right now. Sure, they call for justice or for an end to police brutality, maybe in those exact words. Each one of those goals has a huge problem. Let's see why.

What does justice look like exactly? Will you know when justice has been served? Theoretically, some felony convictions for the involved officers would work. Right? Maybe. 

The goal of ending police brutality is far more problematic. How can we ever achieve a state of affairs where no cop ever abuses any suspect? That is what an end to police brutality might look like. Achieving perfection is a bit too ambitious. There must be other goals or objectives. 

Let's be S.M.A.R.T:

Maybe the current round of protests against racism and other issues can produce some concrete action steps and goals. Let's back up and review what a concrete goal is like. You may have seen the acronym S.M.A.R.T. but bear with me. 

A good racial justice goal has to be Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Timely. We've seen that the goal of no police brutality anymore fails miserably. You can't end all police brutality. At least that goal is specific and measurable and action-oriented. What are some other options? What goals related to police conduct might be Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Timely?

A Couple of Examples:

I had an idea earlier, an idea that seems to qualify as a S.M.A.R.T. goal. Perhaps citizens could pressure their state legislators to pass a law, like this one: 

All law enforcement officers work under a three-strikes rule for complaints of excessive force. On the third valid complaint, the officer is fired. 

The state shall have a similar law on the ballot or on the floor of the legislature in under 2 years from June 1. I think this is a decent example of what reformers can do now. 

I thought of another rule to do with extremist groups. This one falls a little short of being S.M.A.R.T but you can decide. What if state law allowed for firing police officers who belong to extremist groups like Proud Boys, Boogaloo Boys, White Aryan Resistance, KKK, and a wide variety of leftist groups that promote violence. 

Next time a social movement starts, take a minute to think about their goals. If they don't have specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and timely goals then the movement might just be a waste of your time and energy. 

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If you want to get better results from your fundraisers, advocacy campaigns, or other social change efforts, I might be able to help. Shoot me an email (chesterdavisphd@gmail.com) 
or leave a comment.
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