M.S.S.W. Media.

In the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, what can we do to reform our criminal justice system to reduce police brutality?

Let's get on topic. Welcome to On Topic, a weekly in-depth look at a topic that helps us understand the

week's news. My name's Renato Mariati.

I'm a former federal prosecutor, a practicing lawyer, and a legal analyst.

And I'm joined by my friend Patty Vasquez, the host of the Patty Vasquez show who joins us regularly on this podcast.

But before I get to Patty, I want to thank you for supporting this episode, with special

thanks to our patrons, particularly Michelle Dew, James Frohmeyer, J. Gellhausen, Jamie Gordon, Patrick, Steve Hungsberg,

Shana Wachinsky, and an anonymous patron.

You too can become a patron on our website,

on topic podcast.com.

Just click the support link at the top of the page.

So Patty, obviously what happened to George Floyd was horrific and it was just the tip of the iceberg.

But it seems that some good has come of this and that there's been a shift amongst the

establishment, even amongst corporate America, in terms of the attitudes towards police brutality,

kind of racial injustice, and sort of race and how it interfaces with the criminal justice system.

And I think we're also seeing so much footage from all over the country in the police response to civilians.

And look, we're seeing some great images. You're seeing folks hugging each other and bonding. But we're also seeing this sort of, you know, the group mentality in particular. I know we're watching this image today of the elderly man who was a man who was knocked down,

started bleeding and the police officers basically like one stop to see if he was okay and he was told by someone else to keep going.

And they all did in this really strange sort of like what we always assume of a don't cross the police

line. And you feel that that I live in a community that has a lot of first

responders and even I feel like you know will I be targeted by somebody because I am outspoken about Black Lives Matters and about being a woman of color who is you know

...