After midnight on August 24, the day before the start of classes, young people crowded sidewalks in downtown East Lansing and a handful of largely young Black men were waiting at the front of the line to enter a restaurant.

An individual identified as Mason Woods, age 22, began trying to start a fight with another young man, and multiple customers and an employee pulled him away and restrained him. Lonnie Smith, a 21-year-old Black Central Michigan University student, stepped in, held Woods back, stepped between him and the young man he was threatening, and tried to talk him down.

At that point, a squad of at least six East Lansing Police Department (ELPD) officers ran in, didn’t speak to witnesses, and ignored that one belligerent person was sandwiched between two other young Black men who were preventing him from committing violence. After a few seconds, a cop pepper sprayed Woods and Smith in the face from inches away — exposing the whole crowd — then handcuffed Smith. (This occurred one block from the MSU Union building.)

ELPD released body camera videos showing obstructed views of the later parts of the incident but, for over a month, retained security camera video that clearly shows what happened. The local prosecutor charged Smith and Woods with disorderly conduct for two months but then dropped them.

As news of the incident caused public controversy, the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission began calling for release of videos and broader transparency. Members of that oversight commission, created in 2021 due to the George Floyd protests, say procedures have been arranged such that it has no actual power. ELPD has authority to investigate its own officers’ actions. The commission can only observe and make non-binding statements agreeing or disagreeing with the police department. A commission member stated the city manager does not reply to her emails.

A slow-motion conflict began between the review commission, racial justice non-profit organizations, ELPD, and the city government, influenced by fear of public anger. Public figures pointed out that the ELPD’s own limited reports show that a large majority of its use of force is against Black people while 8 percent of East Lansing residents and 7 percent of MSU students are Black.

ELPD chief Jennifer Brown maintained the pepper spraying incident was justified. Previously, she has pushed back against oversight commission criticism by complaining that some of its members “hate cops.” Now she told local media, “We have a very transient population, and over the last month, starting with Welcome Weekend, we have had a disproportionate number of minorities come into the community and commit crimes, and as police officers we are simply responding to those crimes.” 

East Lansing borders the state capital of Lansing, with a much higher Black and Brown population. Brown’s statement was not only starkly racist; it implies she doesn’t believe in freedom of movement between the two cities and believes people are guilty of crimes if the police say they are.

In response, the police oversight commission passed, 7-1, a non-binding resolution calling for Brown to resign, and was joined by a second non-binding resolution by the city human rights commission.

On October 21, as the prosecutor dropped charges against Smith and Woods, the city council moved for the city government to hire an attorney to produce a report evaluating ELPD use of force — a plan requested by the mayor and the city manager, who both support keeping Jennifer Brown as police chief.

The actions of the police oversight commission and the human rights commission speak to the lingering effects of the George Floyd rebellion, and the potential public outcry against the racist actions of the police. However, the fact that these institutions have no real power to hold the police accountable for their actions speaks to the limits of reforming the police, and the idea that city government — or any part of the state — can be counted on to grant justice. After all, it took a nation-wide rebellion for the government to prosecute Derrick Chauvin and force the East Lansing city government to adopt an “oversight” commission. In other words, only the collective struggle and mobilization of the working class, the youth, and oppressed communities of East Lansing and Lansing can bring real accountability to the ELPD.

To fight for real police accountability and the resignation of Chief Brown, a public campaign organized by the working class, the youth, and Black and Brown communities in the area would have to take place. A first step in forming this campaign would be a meeting to discuss what such a public campaign would look like, and how to get unions and other social justice organizations involved.