We Must Account for the Fear, Hurt, and Trauma of June 3

A still from Iowa City police body cam video of June 3, 2020.

Today the City of Iowa City publicly released videos showing law enforcement deploying gas, pepper spray, and flash-bang devices against protesters on N. Dubuque Street on June 3, 2020. 

On June 16, Iowa City City Council passed a Resolution banning tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs against peaceful protesters. City Council has also approved a contract for a thorough, independent investigation into this night. The City Manager’s Office posted a statement with today’s release of the videos.

What I said on June 4 still stands:

I watched in anger and horror as local law enforcement used tear gas and flash bangs on young protesters marching north on Dubuque Street.

Right now, it doesn’t matter if Iowa City is different. For the hundreds of people who were there, and the thousands watching online, we know that unarmed protesters were met with tactics meant to frighten, to hurt, to turn away.

We will learn who made the call and why. We will hear about fear and threats and legal justification (because I’m quite confident how it went down was legal, which, I think, is kinda the point in all of this). 

I will help make sure that we have an open, transparent, thorough examination of what happened. We need to have some much harder, much longer conversations, and I’m here for it.