When the anguish, tears and smoke begin to clear from the current outpouring of rage and resentment in cities across our country — sparked by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of four police officers in the streets of Minneapolis — it will be time for us to get serious on police reform.
In Chicago, the police department is calling for mandatory training — specifically on what is called “positional asphyxiation.” Calls for training are not only too little, too late, but they are a common institutional response to crises around racism, discrimination, harassment and abuse. Even former Vice President Joe Biden is advocating for much the same.
But is that the answer?
In a large study assessing data from 708 private sector establishments between 1971 to 2002, researchers found that of the three most common approaches to addressing bias and discrimination within institutions (training, promoting inclusion and establishing institutional responsibility), efforts to mitigate discrimination through diversity trainings were found to be the least effective.