James held on to the lessons from those he met, and from an early age decided that his calling was the pursuit of social and economic justice. His activism further nurtured by the brothers at Xaverian High School, James went on to graduate from Harvard with honors where he was involved in numerous Democratic campaigns.
As someone who cares deeply about police reform, I support the important training initiatives underway. Police officers must be respectful and treat everyone equitably in the discharge of their duties. However, once again unfunded mandates and onerous timelines are hurting small towns. The new rules did not take into account the value of auxiliary police to small town police forces and the new training timelines are too tight for small towns to manage. We can and must make progress on police reform, but we have to pace differently for different size communities.
We also need to focus more on restorative justice and should look back at and expunge records for any minor possession crimes of substances now legal. The so-called “war on drugs” didn’t accomplish much and incarcerated a generation of young men and color, most for very minor possessions.