Statement from Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry on Recent Protests
STATEMENT
June 2, 2020
For immediate release
Statement from Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry on Recent Protests
I wake up every morning with a lump in my throat. I worry that when I pick up my phone, I will find out that someone else has been murdered overnight.
As we watch protests across the country play out on the news and social media, it is critical that we not lose sight of the history underlying the grief and anger people are expressing. These protests are urgently and rightfully about the murder of George Floyd and they are about so much more. They are about Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Kalief Browder, Korryn Gaines, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee and so many others. They are about 400 years of racism, systematic oppression, and trauma — including decades of mass incarceration and a pandemic that is disproportionately killing black people.
We have managed to avoid police violence against protesters here in Durham and I recognize that this is only possible because of decades of organizing, activism, and struggle. I welcome the conversation residents have called for about policing and poverty in Durham’s black community. Police Chief C.J. Davis has spoken loudly and critically about Floyd’s murder and other acts of police brutality. She deserves to be commended for the courage and leadership she has shown. Our local law enforcement agencies are acting in a way that is consistent with public safety, rather than engaging in the violence and aggression other agencies across the country have employed so brazenly against members of their own communities and the press. The answer to state-sanctioned violence is not more state-sanctioned violence. When black people say, “You are killing us,” it is immoral and unjust to inflict more pain and agony with “law and order” language and the threat of militarized violence.
It has been clear for some time now that we need to shrink the footprint of the criminal justice system in this country. In Durham, we have taken some significant steps. We have reduced our reliance on money bail and pretrial incarceration, and the population of Durham’s detention facility today is nearly half of what it was this time two years ago. We have stopped accepting court referrals for school-based offenses in an effort to save our children’s lives and stem the school-to-prison pipeline. We have increased the use of restorative justice practices and alternatives to incarceration. Under the leadership of Chief Davis and Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, police have reduced traffic stops and low-level arrests while improving community relations. Floyd’s death exemplifies just how high the stakes can be when we take an overly punitive approach to low-level offenses. In this country, black people die over petty things.
At the Durham County District Attorney’s Office, it is our priority to challenge our own biases and think critically about the impact of our work as a prosecutorial office. Having just read Danielle Sered’s Until We Reckon, it is not lost on us that our country’s primary response to violence — incarceration — is characterized by factors shown to drive violence in our communities: Shame, isolation, exposure to violence, and economic instability. Our people deserve better. There is still much work to do to achieve a criminal justice system that treats everyone fairly and a community where we are all safe. Today, we at the Durham County District Attorney’s Office recommit ourselves to protecting, supporting and listening deeply to those who have experienced harm, including harm inflicted by this system.
