Bryan’s Commitment to Racial Equity and Justice
The promise of this nation is the pursuit of life, liberty and justice… for all. For too long, however, it has clearly not been so. We must immediately address the structural and systemic inequities in this nation that are rooted in racial injustice.
We as a nation have arrived at a long overdue moment of reckoning.
Our long history of devaluing, subjugating, and profiting off of Black and Indigenous people of color is now fully exposed in this present moment. We must no longer perpetuate the myth that America is or ever was a shining city on a hill. We are a society that was birthed in and remains rooted in the sin of racism. 246 years of slavery, 99 years of Jim Crow, and 52 years and counting of redlining, mass incarceration and policy brutality tells the real story.
Inspired by the life of Jesus, I have spent my adult life fighting for those who have been left out and disadvantaged. I’ve listened to many people’s stories and have learned that we have much work to do - many of our systems are broken, unjust, and in desperate need of reimagining and repair.
Now is a time for all leaders, but especially white ones, to own their complicity in this reality. As a white man I have never been denied anything or had my life threatened because of the color of my skin. Never once. I have benefited off of our society which has said whiteness is better, whiteness is supreme.
I own that and want to work for a society that truly affirms that Black lives matter. As a person of privilege and a man of faith, I know that I am called to use my privilege to demand racial justice and equity for all.
This moment calls for real leadership that can unite us and lead us down a path of real and sustainable systemic change.
This moment is one we cannot squander.
With my leadership in Congress, I won’t let that happen.
I will work to bring economic opportunity and rebuild our economy in a way that creates opportunity for all—and that starts by rooting out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, our institutions, and even our hearts.
This mission is more important now than ever before, as the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have shined a light on—and cruelly exacerbated—the disparities long faced by African Americans.
Not only is the CDC reporting that black Americans have a rate of hospitalization or death approximately 5 times that of white persons, we also know that black Americans are bearing the brunt of the economic impact. African American small businesses have been hit hard, and over 90% of African American-owned businesses are estimated to be shut out of the initial relief program due to preexisting, systemic disparities in lending. This is especially dire given that many African American families have less of a financial cushion to fall back on in hard times. And it is especially unfortunate given that black workers are about 50% more likely than white workers to be on the front lines of the virus - i.e., as essential workers in the healthcare and social assistance industry.
We must be clear that the changes needed in this moment are not just about police reforms. I agree with Senator Cory Booker, who in a June 2020 interview, explained that issues like health care and education are “not getting enough attention. And the violence against black people is not just what we witness with George Floyd. It’s that race is still the biggest indicator of whether or not you are going to live near a toxic site, breathe dirty air, drink dirty water. Racism is the most profound indicator of what kind of education you get, about how economically fragile your family might be, about whether you’re food insecure.”
I support the work of many local governments who are re-thinking their city budgets. The share of spending for police has grown over the past 40 years, even as cities have become far safer, with police budgets range from 20 to 45 percent of discretionary funding. It is time for our communities to come together and deliberate on the re-balance of priorities. The problem is bigger than policing reform, and so must be our solutions.
It will take sustained commitment, hard work, and political will from our nation’s leaders – and Congress – to bring meaningful change. I am ready.
My principles and priorities on Criminal Justice Reform, including Policing Reform:
I endorse the core principles set forth by Joe Biden for Strengthening America’s Commitment to Justice, which are:
We can and must reduce the number of people incarcerated in this country while also reducing crime. Reducing the number of incarcerated individuals will reduce federal spending on incarceration. These savings should be reinvested in the communities impacted by mass incarceration by creating after-school programs to keep kids off the streets and creating more affordable housing.
Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system. African American mothers and fathers should feel confident that their children are safe walking the streets of America. And, when a police officer pins on that shield and walks out the door, the officer’s family should know they’ll come home at the end of the day.
Our criminal justice system must be focused on redemption and rehabilitation. Making sure formerly incarcerated individuals have the opportunity to be productive members of our society is not only the right thing to do, it will also grow our economy.
No one should be profiteering off of our criminal justice system.
This means supporting reforms that would expand and use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices; invest in public defenders’ offices to ensure defendants’ access to quality counsel; create funding programs to support criminal justice reform at the state and local level; reform sentencing; stop corporations from profiteering off of incarceration; and end the criminalization of poverty.
Specifically regarding policing reform, I recognize that the system is massive and complex, and reforms are not easy. I also acknowledge that we as a country – including in my own community – have many dedicated policing professionals who are doing their best to execute within a broken system.
We must seek change together.
I am an advocate for the recent joint work between the Center for Policing Equity and Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School. They recently released a five-step policy action plan titled,
Re-imagining Public Safety: Prevent Harm and Lead with the Truth, that focuses on advancing policing through strategies backed by science and experience. It promotes moving the conversation concerning police reform away from archaic crime control strategies and instead investing in building trust and legitimacy in the system as a whole. The goals they set forth, which I support, are:
Encourage voluntary compliance through the promotion of trust and legitimacy, rather than compliance through fear of punishment.
Safety is key. Public safety and crime prevention require focusing on institutions outside of the current traditional punishment and policing paradigm. True safety and security depend upon social supports such as education, health, and housing.
Community development and reconciliation, is necessary to undo past trauma and will achieve more benefits than merely reducing the harm of existing institutions. Structural changes and reconciliatory initiatives that recognize the victimization of individuals who reside in neighborhoods as well as the harms to the whole community can prevent these harms from happening again and build capacity for communities to flourish.
Aligned with these goals are two recent legislative proposals that - If I were in Congress today - I would support. The first, Justice in Policing Act, is a comprehensive approach to hold police accountable, end racial profiling, change the culture of law enforcement, empower our communities, and build trust between law enforcement and our communities by addressing systemic racism and bias to help save lives. The second, a bipartisan bill called the Strong Communities Act, and sponsored by Michigan U.S. Senator Gary Peters along with Texas Senator John Coryn, aims to boost trust between police and the neighborhoods they serve by encouraging law enforcement officers to work in the community where they live.
Beyond Criminal Justice Issues
My campaign is about creating a society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive – where individuals can work hard in well-paying jobs, where our West Michigan businesses prosper, and where families have access to affordable health care, housing, and education that is fundamental to human flourishing. To get there, we must pursue policies that include:
Expand access to high-quality education and tackle racial inequity in our education system, to include providing high-quality, universal pre-kindergarten; investing in our public schools and eliminating the funding gap between white and non-white districts; and improving teacher diversity.
Make far-reaching investments in ending health disparities by race, ensuring access to high-quality health care during this COVID-19 crisis and beyond, regardless of employment status.
Address environmental justice.
Advance the economic mobility of African Americans and other people of color, and close the racial wealth and income gaps. Make sure economic relief because of COVID-19 reaches the minority-owned businesses that need it most.
Address disparities in housing, to including increasing access to affordable housing; eliminating local and state housing regulations that perpetuate discrimination; rolling back Trump Administration policies gutting fair lending and fair housing protections for homeowners.
Build and modernize infrastructure in communities that need it most, to include broadband for every American household.
Increase college completion by making college affordable for all students and address the student debt crisis.
Declare Juneteenth a national holiday.
Remove the influence of money in politics, end gerrymandering, and aggressively fight efforts to limit access to the ballot so we are better able to create systematic change.