Why R.I. should ban tear gas (with Alison Z. Weber)

Earlier this month, the Rhode Island State Police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of people in downtown Providence. Tear gas is banned in international warfare, yet it is permitted to be used by our own law enforcement agents for crowd control purposes. The use of tear gas to disperse crowds of citizens poses a major public health issue.

Vulnerable people, including children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions have the most health complications after exposure to tear gas. Anecdotal evidence from areas with high civil unrest around the world indicates that tear gas may cause miscarriages. Further, use of tear gas also puts people in the surrounding community at risk. Tear gas enters homes and businesses, causing long-term exposure for nearby residents.

And last, but certainly not least in this present moment, using tear gas may increase the spread of coronavirus. As a lung irritant, tear gas may cause inflammation that makes people more susceptible to contracting coronavirus after exposure.Given all that we know about the harmful effects of tear gas exposure, we are left wondering: Why haven’t we banned the use of tear gas in Rhode Island?

On June 2, after tear gas was used overnight in Providence, Gov. Gina Raimondo said in a statement: “Let’s rise above the hate, rise above the fear, and work to root out racism on an individual and institutional level.”The task of addressing systemic racism that impacts individuals and institutions can seem amorphous. The issue of state-sanctioned violence against Black people, for instance, is reflective of policing’s historical roots in slave patrols that hunted and surveilled enslaved Black people. Therefore, addressing the backlog of police murders against Black people requires confronting not just policing in its modern form, but the racism that has propelled our country’s people and systems.

The task of addressing systemic racism that impacts individuals and institutions can seem amorphous. The issue of state-sanctioned violence against Black people, for instance, is reflective of policing’s historical roots in slave patrols that hunted and surveilled enslaved Black people. Therefore, addressing the backlog of police murders against Black people requires confronting not just policing in its modern form, but the racism that has propelled our country’s people and systems.

Reckoning with the “bad” of a system built on a rotten foundation will take more than initiatives like bias training, community policing and body cameras. In fact, many have made compelling arguments for decades that there are no improvements to be made to such a system, only abolishment. While larger initiatives take form, it is important to take immediate actions that reduce the harm being done to all, including protesters and the surrounding communities in which political demonstrations take place.

In this moment, when our Black citizens are living and fighting through the double pandemics of the novel coronavirus and continuing anti-Black racism, banning the use of tear gas in Rhode Island is a reform that needs to happen now.

In the wake of nationwide protests against police violence and anti-Black racism, some cities have already banned the use of tear gas. Seattle and Portland have temporarily banned the use of tear gas to protect protesters and demonstrators; Berkeley, California, has banned it permanently. Other cities have proposed legislation that would ban the use of nonlethal weapons such as tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades and bean bag rounds. Cities considering this legislation are numerous, including Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Washington and Denver. On June 10, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Takano and Chuy Garcia announced plans to introduce a bill titled the “Prohibiting Law Enforcement Use of Chemical Weapons Act.” This would ban police at the local, state and federal levels from using tear gas.

While such legislation across government levels is an important step, we call on our communities and our leaders to take immediate action in Rhode Island. Write to your senators and congressional representatives to ask them to ban tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades and bean bag rounds. This is a clear action step that can, in the words of Governor Raimondo, root out an institutional practice that disproportionately harms Black people in our communities.

First published in The Providence Journal.