NATIONAL INTEREST 01/26/15 By Michael Shank and Des Browne We are facing a new security threat, and, if left unaddressed, it has the potential to kill thousands of people in a single summer. We are talking, of course, about climate change. A new study authored by the British Met Office […]
Tag: defense department
Post-Election Ferguson: Bipartisan Congress to Demilitarize Police
HUFFINGTON POST 10/21/14 By Michael Shank As the Ferguson fight rages on, a potentially more courageous Congress stands ready to return, post-elections, to shut down that which rightfully enraged protestors initially. Last month, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives finally took a stand against the […]
The Audacity of Air Strikes and Secret Deals: Just Making Isis Grow Stronger?
THE GUARDIAN 09/23/14 By Michael Shank and Rep Raul Grijalva Members of Congress – and the public – who care about a sustainable peace in the Middle East, the wise use of American tax dollars and the balance of power between our branches of government must not stand by as […]
Q&A: Rep. Hank Johnson on Ending Police Militarization
ATLANTA MAGAZINE 09/05/14 By Cameron Albert-Deitch Hank Johnson may have been best known as one of two Buddhists in the House (the other being Hawaii’s Colleen Hanabusa). But the lawmaker, who has served Georgia’s 4th congressional district since 2007, has set his sights on reforming the Department of Defense’s 1033 […]
Stop Police Militarization
ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION 08/28/14 By Hank Johnson As seen in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution: http://on-ajc.com/1lhRBWk U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, is a member of the House Armed Services and Judiciary Committees. Michael Shank, associate director for legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, contributed to this article. […]
Stop Treating America Like a War Zone
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/22/14 By Michael Shank and US Rep Hank Johnson America is finally waking up to the militarization of its police forces. This is a good thing and heralds a tipping point in the changing face of policing in the United States. America must realize that […]
Ferguson Highlights US Police Militarization
RIA NOVOSTI 08/22/14 FERGUSON, August 22 (RIA Novosti) – Harsh policing of protests over the police killing of an unarmed African-American teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, showcase a trend towards the militarization of US law enforcement, Michael Shank, a religious group director, told RIA Novosti Friday. “The militarization of the police […]
Drawing the Line Between Soldier and Cop
NEW YORK TIMES 08/17/14 By Jake Flanagin “Ferguson, Mo., has become a virtual war zone,” write Elizabeth R. Beavers and Michael Shank in an Op-Ed for The New York Times. “In the wake of the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, outsize armored vehicles have lined streets and […]
Time to Stop Turning Police Forces Into Armies
NEWSER 08/15/14 By John Johnson Critics such as Sen. Claire McCaskill say the initial police response in Ferguson, Mo., actually made things worse because cops were equipped like soldiers of war. No wonder, write Elizabeth Beavers and Michael Shank in the New York Times. The Pentagon and Homeland Security Department […]
Five Best Friday Columns
THE WIRE 08/15/14 By David Ludwig Elizabeth R. Beavers and Michael Shank in The New York Times on why American police forces are too militarized. Beavers and Shank write that the reaction to protests in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown demonstrate that U.S. police forces have been over-equipped […]