Here are some ideas that various groups and individuals have suggested. I don’t know which of them are likely to be the most helpful. What do you think?
Please let me know if you think of something I should add to this list.
Proposals people have made as potential means to try to improve the lives of Black Americans:
POLICE
- reduce funding for police departments, or reduce the number of police officers
- provide an alternative to calling the police (e.g., a hotline to call when someone is having great mental distress, or when there is a heated argument, that sends a social worker or psychologist instead of a police officer)
- don’t allow police to carry guns (or greatly reduce the number that carry guns)
- don’t allow police to use choke holds and other potentially deadly tactics
- increase evidence based training for police on how to de-escalate non violently
- increase evidence based anti-racism, anti-prejudice and anti-implicit bias training for police (unfortunately my understanding is that most of these programs don’t have a strong track record of effectiveness so far, but hopefully some actually work)
- increase the number of police officers who come from the same communities they serve
- increase the number of Black police officers in communities that have high rates of Black citizens
- make it much easier to sue or press charges against the police when they act abusively
- make the records of police complaints and police misconduct of individual officers public, and make them easily accessible
- increase penalties for police officers that cause harm (that is not clearly in self-defense and not necessary to prevent harm to others)
- increase the legal bar for when an officer’s violent actions are considered to be justifiable (or reduce the bar for punishing officers)
- create completely independent 3rd party (non-police) committees that review accusations against police, and that have the power to fire officers
- require body cams and car cams be used by police at all times (and make it standard to review these tapes whenever a complaint occurs or someone is injured or killed by an officer)
PRISONS
- reduce the criminal penalties on non-violent crimes that disproportionally cause Black people to end up in prison
- legalize activities that aren’t actually harmful that Black people may be disproportionally charged with (e.g., “loitering”)
- get rid of the bail system
- decrease prison sentences broadly across the board
- use algorithms (that have been shown to be unbiased) for sentencing because they may be less biased (and better account for societal risk) than human judgments (or, on the opposite side of the issue, get rid of algorithms since they may systematize or perpetuate biases)
- create much better educational options for those in prison
- provide better support (e.g., mental health, job training) for people when they are released from prison
- make sure people convicted of crimes are still able to vote
EDUCATION
- increase funding for public schools in impoverished areas
- use a public school system that gives parents greater choice of where their children go (e.g., maybe a voucher system)
- subsidize college tuitions for those coming from poorer communities
- increase affirmative action (or, some argue for the reverse, where admissions must be race blind)
- increase usage of standardized, hard to train for methods of evaluating students for college admission (or, some argue it’s better to reduce usage of such methods)
- increase funding for daycare in impoverished communities
- provide free laptops and WiFi to young people in poorer communities
- increase funding for after school activities in poorer communities
- increase government subsidies for people in poorer communities going to trade schools
- increase free or low cost job retraining programs in poorer communities for when people lose their job
- require large companies to provide evidence based anti-discrimination and anti racial bias training
- teach more about Black history and existing injustices in schools
POLITICAL
- increase the number of voting locations in poorer communities
- make it easier to vote by mail for people that can’t easily take time off work or get to polling locations
- get politicians to publicly decry racism and racial bias more often and more fervently
- make it much harder to buy guns throughout the country
- increase the societal promotion of excellent Black role models
- increase the number of Black politicians
INCOME
- implement universal basic income or provide salary subsidies for impoverished people that are working
- increase minimum wage
- encourage or incentivize large companies to source their hires more from communities where greater percentages of Black people live
- increase programs to give low interest loans to people living in poorer communities
This piece was first written on June 6, 2020, and first appeared on my website on September 14, 2026.
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