ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Every Wednesday, for 395 weeks, Tawanda Jones has held a vigil to protest the death of her brother, Tyrone West, who died after a struggle with Baltimore police in 2013.
Jones' protests used to take place on the streets of Baltimore, but since the pandemic, she has moved her activism online, where she recently waited late into the night to testify in support of an effort to create greater police accountability in Maryland.
Jones hopes the time has come to repeal the state’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights — police protections in state law she says have shielded authorities from responsibility, including the officers who she believes suffocated her brother. “I call it a security blanket for them that allows them to