This year, in the midst of a raging pandemic, Americans took to the streets to call for police reform and stand against systemic racism in our country. Those issues were definitely on the ballot in the November election.
But now that the polls have closed, some are questioning whether reform is on the way.
One person raising those questions is Bishop Cornelius Bowser, who said he feels “cautiously optimistic.”
Bowser is one of the founding pastors of Charity Apostolic Church in San Diego, and Shaphat Outreach -- a community organization focused on intervening in the lives of young adults who are caught in the grips of gang violence. Bowser said the organization also works to “change or transform systems and institutions, such as bias policing, mass incarceration and unfair laws.”
Bowser believes “(Reform) has to be on the front end of how our communities are policed, not the back-end when someone gets shot or killed or injured, and then we want to do something about it. We want to prevent that from happening.”
In a conversation with NBC 7 Anchor Mark Mullen, Bowser expressed his concerns that little reform has come to fruition in the six months since the murder of George Flloyd. He fears the country is losing the momentum that led to nationwide protests and calls for change.
“I do fear it and I’m already seeing it. That’s why I feel a sense of desperation,” Bowser said. “We most definitely have to change the culture within policing and how they view our communities.”
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Watch Bowser’s full conversation in the video above.
