Need to Change a Bad Reno Ranking
“We obviously need change,” said Ray Bacasegua Valdez who came out with the American Indian Movement of Northern Nevada this past Saturday to show support for local families who have lost a relative to a police killing. Along with members of Reno Cop Watch and PERCh (People Enacting Radical Change), there were several dozen participants. The families of Thomas Purdy (killed by Washoe County Nevada sheriff’s deputies at the Washoe County Jail in 2015), Johnny Bonta (killed by Sparks PD in 2017), and Kenneth Stafford (killed by police in Sparks in 2013), were present as well.
“We’re also asking for accountability and some reform. We need some change,” Vazquez said. As cars drove by the protest at the Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse and Federal Building, some honked in support.
According to MappingPoliceViolence.org, Reno is the 9th highest city in the country in terms of the number of yearly police killings per capita.
Over 60 people joined the protest on Saturday September 12th. The Peltier sign refers to Leonard Peltier, whose 76th birthday was on that day. Peltier is an AIM activist who has been in prison since 1977, serving two life sentences after being convicted of killing two FBI Special Agents on the Lakota Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in 1975. Numerous doubts have been raised over his guilt and the fairness of his trial.
Early Signs of Progress
While Valdez recognizes there is a need for change he personally does not think defunding and removing law enforcement is the answer, as has been the goal of many protesters in the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think right now, we’re just in the early stages of a solution,” Valdez said. “I think it starts with our leadership, the leadership of our country and the mindset.”
Valdez also believes real change will come from the bottom up and from the people. “We don’t want the next generation to carry this hate. We need to stop that,” he said.
He does see some change going in the correct direction.
“The City of Reno removed Columbus Day, it’s now Indigenous People’s Day. That was a big thing,” Valdez said. He also mentioned the recent decision by the Squaw Valley Ski Resort that they will be changing their name as a positive. The resort acknowledged the word “squaw” is racist and sexist and said it would change the name after the next ski season.