An email to Austin City Council, in support of reforming Austin Police Department
If you would like to contact Austin City Council about APD funding, please feel free to use any of this in your email
To: steve.adler@austintexas.gov, spencer.cronk@austintexas.gov, natasha.madison@austintexas.gov, Delia.Garza@austintexas.gov, Sabino.Renteria@austintexas.gov, Gregorio.Casar@austintexas.gov, Ann.Kitchen@austintexas.gov, Jimmy.Flannigan@austintexas.gov, Leslie.Pool@austintexas.gov, Paige.Ellis@austintexas.gov, Kathie.Tovo@austintexas.gov, Alison.Alter@austintexas.gov
To City Manager Cronk, Mayor Adler, and members of Austin City Council:
My name is Nathan Ryan. I am writing to you in my personal capacity as a resident of Austin, Texas, District 2.
Whether it is homelessness, incarceration, housing, income level, home ownership, likelihood of dying from COVID-19, maternal mortality or police brutality, Black Americans are disproportionately on the least-forgiving end of those spectrums, their communities most greatly affected since slavery reached the North American continent over 400 years ago in 1619. These outcomes are systemic.
What has prompted this current outcry is recent a series of horrific murders of Americans at the hands of the police — from George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and Mike Ramos here in Austin.
A lot of folks are rightly concerned about the violence they’ve seen at these protests. I don’t believe I know a single person who is in favor of a riot or looting, whether they agree with the aims of the protest or not.
But neither do I believe the responsibility of modeling nonviolence rests on the citizenry. The responsibility of modeling nonviolence rests on the state. And constant escalation by the state — APD, specifically — killing unarmed citizens in Austin, tear gassing, and shooting peaceful protestors with bean bag guns or rubber bullets, will, at times, I believe, regrettably but understandably provoke further escalation from otherwise peaceful citizens.
At testimony last week, the head of the Austin Police Association said he would never accept any change that would make…
