8 Can’t Wait | Know Your Meme

Overview

8 Can’t Wait, also known by the hashtag #8cantwait, is an eight-point political action campaign to reform policing in the United States. These actions include reducing lethal force, firearms and more accountability and documentation from officers.

Background

On May 30th, 2020, several days after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody after a former Minnesota police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, sparking protests throughout the United States, Campaign Zero, a police reform campaign, launched the 8 Can’t Wait website. The website states the group’s demands, stating “Data proves that together these eight policies can decrease police violence by 72%.” These eight steps include:

Banning chokeholds and strangleholds
Require de-escalation
Require warning before shooting
Exhaust all other means before shooting
The duty to intervene
Ban shooting at moving vehicles
Require use of force continuum
Require comprehensive reporting

Developments

Online Reaction

On June 2nd, 2020, Bill Simmons shared the latest episode of his podcast featuring the guest Deray Mckesson, the co-founder of Campaign Zero. They discuss 8 Can’t Wait, and later that day, Simmons tweeted about the campaign. He wrote, “Here’s the link to @deray‘s Campaign Zero if you want to research or donate: https://joincampaignzero.org … they’re doing great work and need more resources. Their new campaign #8cantwait launches tomorrow (we discussed it on the pod) — will post the website link when it’s live.” The post received more than 530 likes and 145 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

On June 3rd, people began posting about the campaign on social media. One of the earliest to do was activist Brittnay Packet, who posted about the campaign on Facebook. She wrote, “WE HAVE SOLUTIONS. WE CAN WIN. Together, these 8 use of force policies can reduce police violence up to 70%. They don’t take an act of Congress. They don’t take an executive order. All we need is for Mayors and police chiefs to do the right thing.” The post received more than 1,400 shares and 900 reactions in less than 24 hours (shown below, left).

That day, actor Lupita Nyong’o posted about the campaign. She wrote, “Today, Campaign Zero is launching #8CantWait, a list of 8 policies that, when combined, have the power to reduce police violence in the United States that results in death by up to 72%. I’m supporting #8CantWait, and I urge you to join me since these policies can be changed immediately. They are common sense ideas regarding use-of-force that will make our communities safer since their impact will save lives. We need to flood mayoral offices across the country with clear demands that these policies be enacted immediately.” The post received more than 1,600 reactions and 800 shares in less than 24 hours (shown below, center).

Singer Ariana Grande posted about the campaign on Instagram. She wrote, “progress was made but let’s not get distracted. there is still so much to learn and do. please make sure you are registered to vote and ready for your state’s elections. also, note that voting from home is an option too thanks to @headcountorg 🖤 also also !! today @campaignzero launched #8cantwait, a list of 8 policies to reduce police violence that can be changed immediately and save lives.” The post received more than 1.2 million likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets published reports on the campaign, including GQ, NBC and more.

Search Interest

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External References