A California town was promised police reform – then police got involved

After Chico police killed a Black man in a mental health crisis, activists set the stage for change. But reform efforts only gave police more power

For 61-year-old David Phillips, the small northern California city of Chico is the ideal place to live - except for the racism and the police, two things he says are inseparable.

Founded an hour and a half drive north of Sacramento, Chico is stained with a violent past; like many of the state's cities in the 19th century, it was a sundown town, and early in the 20th, the Ku Klux Klan had a float in the local parade. It has stayed mostly white for more than a century, including 82% of the population today.