A decade of racial justice activism transformed politics but landmark reforms remain elusive

By MATT BROWN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cori Bush went from helping to lead an informal movement for racial justice to winning two terms as a congresswoman from Missouri, with an office decorated with photographs of families who lost loved ones to police violence. One picture is of Michael Brown.

Brown’s death 10 years ago in Ferguson, Missouri, was a defining moment for America’s racial justice movement. It cast a global spotlight on longtime demands for reforms to systems subjecting millions of people to everything from economic discrimination to murder.

FILE – Protesters appeal to motorists for support while rallying on Aug. 11, 2014 in front of the QT gas station in Ferguson, Mo. that was looted and burned during rioting overnight that followed a candlelight vigil honoring 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was shot on Aug. 9, 2014 by Ferguson police officers. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings) 

Many activists like Bush went from proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” to running for seats in statehouses, city halls, prosecutors’ offices and the halls of Congress — and winning. Local legislation has been passed to do everything from dismantling prisons and jails and reforming schools to eliminating hair discrimination.

At least 30 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted laws meant to curb abusive conduct since 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. And while the last decade of racial justice activism transformed politics, landmark reforms remain elusive, more than three dozen activists, elected officials and political operatives told The Associated Press.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., poses for a photograph in her office at Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) 

“As we look at the strides we’ve made, it ebbs and flows,” said Bush, who was a longtime community organizer and pastor before becoming a Democratic representative. “We’re still dealing with militarized policing in communities. We’re still dealing with the police shootings.”

A decade of activists’ achievements

As the new generation of Black activists wielding cellphones rewrote the national conversation on policing, questions of public safety and racial justice pushed into the center of American politics. Police body cameras are widespread. Tactics like the chokehold have been outlawed across the country.

Ferguson prompted an immediate change in how communities tackle police reform and misconduct, said Svante Myrick, who served as the youngest-ever mayor of Ithaca, New York, from 2011 to 2021 before he became president for People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy group.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., speaks to an Associated Press reporter in her office at Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) 

At least 150 reforms passed in localities and states across the country.