A brief examination of American Policing and Systemic Racism: Why BLM?
By Sunny Vakkalanka
How ironic it is that even though July 4th is the day that America got its freedom from Great Britain, many American people of color still feel restrained by their own government. The George Floyd protests that have been going on in the Not-so-United States for the past month are not new: protests erupted in 2014 after the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and more than 1000 others killed by cops (Huang, 3:56-4:31). However, we can’t let the protests happening right now slip through our fingers, as they are a golden opportunity for real change. American over-policing and systemic racism demonstrate why BLM protests have been going on for the past few years, and this issue is significant because change in the system is needed to better our own communities.
American police have too much training in using violence and not enough in deescalating fights, which leads to the loss of the feeling of community and the avoidable loss of lives. An epitome of this is the 1033 Program, which gives out military equipment to police departments. For free. The Obama administration slowed down the program after feeling like it wasn’t serving the community, but the Trump administration reversed that decision. However, a scary change in policing occurred when big police departments started buying their own military equipment (“Why America's police look like soldiers,” 4:35-5:27). This illustrates that police want military equipment because they feel as it defines them. Moreover, they even know that it scares the public, but they are fine with that. However, this greatly contradicts the initial goal of policing, which is being a part of and serving the community (not trying to scare it away).
Another example of over-policing is over 1,000 people are annually killed by cops in the US. Even when considering the fact that the US has around x5 the population of the UK, the police killings in the US are around x110 higher (The Problem: McKesson and Sinyangwe). In fact, the US’s rate of police killings per person is higher than all “first-world” countries. If the US is to be considered a first-world nation, then we should make sure our police system is up to standard. To me, personally, what is astonishing is that with the protests and the support for BLM, one would expect police killings this year would go down, right? Nope. This year’s deaths by police are already at 506, on track to surpass last year’s 999 deaths. Of these deaths, “The rate at which Black Americans are killed by police is more than twice as high as the rate for White Americans,” (Police Shootings Database: Tate et al.). This helps explain the correlation between the Black Lives Matter protests and the calls to defund/change the police system. Furthermore, it highlights how the disproportionate police killings of African Americans in the US are only a part of the wider problem of systemic racism in this country.
Systemic racism in America is not new; in fact, it is quite old. From slavery to Brown v. Board, the US always struggled with race. Still, one reason awareness of racism (embedded in the system) started to surge around Trump’s presidency is because of a phenomenon known as the political thermostat (Wlezien): If a country’s leader moves too far to one side on the political spectrum (left or right), public opinion starts to sway the other side. Because Trump’s public image so far has been full of far-right speeches and actions, more liberal issues started to rise. One such issue is the continued social, economic, and political differences between the lives of White and Black Americans (there are differences between other races and White people, but not as troubling). Systemic racism in the US exists mainly in 6 forms: Education, Health, Employment, Community, Housing, and Criminal Justice (Racial Equality Tools: Hinson et al.). One example of a real racial disparity comes up when considering the subsystem of criminal justice (or rather, injustice): “Marijuana usage rates are similar between White and Black Americans, yet Black Americans are 3.64 times more likely to get arrested on marijuana possession charges” (Business Insider: Gal et al.). This perfectly addresses the racial bias that exists within the justice and police system. Another disparity is in the American Education system: for the last 40 years, the percentage of Black vs White people with a college degree has been at a 10% difference, with White graduates in the lead. This suggests that more than 150 years after the legal end of slavery, African-Americans still have fewer opportunities for higher education than White Americans. When 6 generations couldn’t bridge the educational gap between two races, the system is most likely flawed in treating different races equally.
Finally, the big questions must be asked: What do the protests want to achieve, and what change has happened so far? Campaign Zero lists 10 major changes that should be made to make the police a safer presence in the community (McKesson and Sinyangwe). An excerpt of these is to end ‘broken windows policing’, have ‘community oversight’, and ‘limit the use of force’. Ending broken windows policing requires police to de-prioritize activities that have no harm to other people, such as jaywalking, spitting, and trespassing. Community oversight allows the community to investigate and decide what consequences officers should face after certain wrongful actions. Limiting the use of force, which is the most immediate solution, includes banning chokeholds, using de-escalation tactics, warning fellow officers of unnecessary lethal tactics, and carrying first aid kits for the injured.
Although police reform can be fixed with bills or laws, systemic racism requires a more thought out solution that won’t be as quick as fixing the former. Jennifer Rainey Marquez says, “Solutions that seem simple are the ones that get the attention. But those easy fixes are also what’s comfortable for the institution”. The solutions to combat systemic racism will be a long journey that requires our government to change the very roots of American society. Many industries will have to change drastically for people of color (mainly Black Americans) to be represented and treated equally to White Americans.
Overall, many organizations have started showing support for BLM since the starting of the protests this year. Moreover, many major cities have banned chokeholds, and some are even planning to defund the police and enact more policing laws (CNN: Andrew and Asmelash). Howbeit, most of them are just a one-time solution that will prevent another police officer from choking another person to death. Real change will happen with solutions that create a new system, free of racism, and enforce it with police that serve the community.
Works Cited
Andrew, Scottie, and Leah Asmelash. The Race-Related Things That Have Changed since Protests Began around George Floyd's Death. 13 June 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/us/changes-from-protests-george-floyd-trnd/index.html.
Marquez, Jennifer Rainey. “Quick-Fix Policy Won't Dismantle Systemic Racism.” Futurity, 17 June 2020, www.futurity.org/systemic-racism-2387952/.
Gal, Shayanne, and Andy Kiersz. “25 Simple Charts to Show Friends and Family Who Aren't Convinced Racism Is Still a Problem in America.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 12 June 2020, www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6.
Hinson, Sandra, et al. “Race, Power and Policy: Dismantling Structural Racism.” Racial Equality Tools, Grassroots Policy Project, www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/race_power_policy_workbook.pdf.
McKesson, Deray, and Samuel Sinyangwe. “The Problem.” Campaign Zero, www.joincampaignzero.org/problem.
McKesson, Deray, and Samuel Sinyangwe. “Solutions.” Campaign Zero, www.joincampaignzero.org/solutions.
Wlezien, Christopher. “The Public as Thermostat: Dynamics of Preferences for Spending.” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 39, no. 4, 1995, pp. 981–1000. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2111666. Accessed 5 July 2020.
Tate, Julie. “Fatal Force: Police Shootings Database.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Jan. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/.
“Why America’s police look like soldiers.” Vox, 25 June. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOAOVbyfjA0.
Huang, Cary. “Police Killings in the US and the UK, 2009-2020.” Abacaba, 8 June. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s8O8-_AGKw.
