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The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Jeromiah Taylor is a Wichita-based writer merging contemplative Christianity with direct action.

Black lives are not symbols. Black lives are not theoretical. And yet, every few years the death of a Black person rises above anonymity to become a touchstone for national anxieties.

In subsequent months, protests seize metro areas, hashtags saturate social media platforms and empty performance plagues national politics. Yet after the initial outrage fades, as the quiet of complacency settles once more over the land, it appears that yet again nothing changed.

CJ Lofton was not an idea, not a poster child. He is not a martyr or the icon of a movement. He was a human being. A human being whose life ended at the hands of public employees.

Something must change.

At the heart of Loftons death lies Kansass untenable stand your ground statute. The law decrees that if a person reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or another they are not obligated to retreat and are exempted from civil and criminal charges in the event of the attackers death.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennet cited the stand your ground statute in his decision to not prosecute the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center employees who restrained Lofton for more than 30 minutes while prone. That resulted in what Sedgwick County chief medical examiner Timothy Gorrill ruled Loftons homicide. According to Bennet, no prosecution would hold up in court as a result of the statute.

This ruling is one of several recent decisions in Kansas against prosecution of authorities. In 2018, Johnston County District Attorney Steve Howe cited stand your ground in his ruling against prosecuting the Overland Park police officer who fatally shot 17-year-old John Albers while he backed out of his driveway. Police responded to a call expressing concern that Albers was suicidal. In 2021, Bennet ruled against prosecuting a sheriffs officer who killed 51-year-old Debra Arbuckle in 2019 while she evaded police. Arbuckles expired license plate initiated the pursuit.

Following the public outrage at Lofton's death, Gov. Laura Kelly, the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple committed themselves to investigating the extent to which foster care and juvenile intake procedures were followed in Lofton's case and considering adjustments to procedures.

Following the public outrage at Loftons death, Gov. Laura Kelly, the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple committed themselves to investigating the extent to which foster care and juvenile intake procedures were followed in Loftons case and considering adjustments to procedures.

This narrowing of scope to the procedural function of state systems is a derailing tactic. While I affirm the importance of protecting youths in the system, Loftons status as a foster child was incidental to his death. It doesnt matter why the police are called. What matters is that all too often, when they are, somebody dies needlessly with no consequences.

The essential policy issue of Loftons tragic death is the near impossibility of prosecuting law enforcement within the confines of the stand your ground statute.

The few voices calling for a revisit of the statute are largely Republican lawmakers, many of whom were involved in drafting the original measure. House Speaker Ron Ryckman indicated a House committee designed to examine the impact of the statute was a priority of the legislative session. However, no action occurred on the phrasing or execution of the statute.

The fact remains that Kansass stand your ground policy is an untenable skirting of basic civil rights. At its core, the statute provides a legal way for law enforcement to bypass due process.

Every community member deserves access to the full extent of the law to defend themselves against criminal or civil charges. Death must never preclude justice. As evidenced by the cited invocations of stand your ground, even community members who were quite literally fleeing their ground are legally executed without due process, leaving their survivors and advocates without a legal avenue to prosecute the deceaseds killers.

Conceptually, stand your ground relies on a blatant preference for the experience, perspective, and claims of authorities. To believe oneself threatened, regardless of any documented circumstances, cannot be a credible defense against causing bodily harm. It is not a credible defense for four adults to claim fear of death or injury at the hands of an unarmed, restrained, 17-year-old with a BMI of 19.4.

If not repealed, Kansass stand your ground law must be overhauled. A clear and measurable criteria for reasonable belief and imminent death or great bodily harm must be outlined, legislated and enforced. Moreover, no statute must preclude civil or criminal charges in the event of a human death. When someone is killed, the victims survivors must have access to every available avenue of justice, no matter the circumstances of death.

Until then, the Kansas stand your ground statute functions as a state-sanctioned fail-safe to protect those who feel threatened by civilians.

I entreat Kansans to not let Lofton become just another hashtag, just another news cycle, the subject of another brief outrage. Lofton is lost alongside countless others. Our moral imperative consists of preventing the loss of any more human beings at the hands of law enforcement.

Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary,here.

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Kansas cannot allow another death at the hand of authorities to go without notice and action - Kansas Reflector