Police Brutality and Violent Protests: We Have to Understand Why the Cycle Exists to Move Forward by Holly Tente
Another week, another high profile racial police brutality case in the news. Racism in our country goes back centuries and police brutality cases have become disgustingly prevalent in society in recent decades. Thus we have seen the communities most affected go to their last resort: violent protests. Before we debrief the protests that occurred on the night of May 27th into the morning of May 29th, 2020, let’s outline two other crucial American cases and the riots that followed. In March of 1991, Rodney King led police on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles, ending in his arrest. Multiple white LAPD members kicked and beat King repeatedly for over fifteen minutes. The 26-year old survived, but later photographs showed the truth; Rodney King was a target of a hate crime by none other than police officers. A year after the event and much coverage in the media, the four police officers responsible were tried by a jury in Ventura County and found not guilty. Later that same day, riots began in South Los Angeles and resulted in dire consequences. Liquor stores, retail shops, fast food restaurants, and grocery stores were looted and destroyed; Latino and white motorists passing by were even targeted, some were pulled out of their vehicles and beaten. The riots left 2,383 injured and 63 dead.
Sometime in the afternoon on August 9th, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson noticed two men walking in the middle of the road. The two men were Dorian Johnson and Micheal Brown. According to officer Wilson, Brown became aggressive after he refused to walk on the pavement instead of the street and punched the officer. Wilson suddenly realized that the men were suspects in a robbery reported nearby. Brown kept attacking Wilson and, feeling threatened, the officer fatally shot Brown, at least seven times. Dorian Johnson’s account, however, greatly differed. He stated that Brown did not punch the officer, and when the 18-year old was shot, he was standing feet away with his hands up to surrender. This story took social media by storm and there were two violent waves of protest in St. Louis and Ferguson after Wilson was taken into custody. The final wave came in April of 2015, when, in an unprecedented turn of events, officer Darren Wilson was acquitted due to a lack of evidence and riots became so intense that Ferguson declared a state of emergency. There were 10 private citizens injured during these protests, 6 police officers injured, and one death.
On Memorial Day in 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, officer Derek Chauvin arrested George Floyd. In the now-viral video, we see that he puts handcuffs on the man all while kneeling on his neck. As Floyd gasped for breath, he verbally expressed that he could not breathe. Suddenly, the footage takes a turn and we witness the death of the 46-year old man. This is dangerously reminiscent of Eric Garner’s last words that he forced out as he was choked to death by a member of the NYPD in 2014, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s preventable death and clear evidence have even prompted Mayor Jacob Frey to express that Chauvin should be charged. A day after the death of Floyd, Chauvin and the other three officers were fired. That, however, has not been enough for the members of the black community affected. On the night of May 27, 2020, into the morning of May 29, 2020, riots ensued. Protesters looted near a police precinct and set large fires that burned for hours on the street and at chain stores. The number of people injured due to the protests is still unclear as this is still a breaking story, but one man was fatally shot. Beyond other similarities, the one constant in all three of these stories is this: recurring white violence upon black men.
In these three stories, we cannot deny the severity of the actions these rioters took and we should not praise the destruction. By the same token, we should not forget why exactly they began. Black communities do not want to loot and destroy towns, but it has become the way that we societally recognize injustice and prejudice. We should instead understand what these events signify, and learn about the pain, anger, and humanity behind the destruction. The black community is in mourning, and have experienced pain and sorrow that other racial groups cannot fathom, nor can I. We recognize that even cops find the news unsettling and do not stand behind these stories. We hear about the heroes of the American justice system, so why is it that the black men and women keep dying? I’d answer, look at numbers. In the case of Ferguson, recently published numbers by the US Department of Justice show that 93% of people arrested in the city are African American, whereas only 67% of citizens identify as black. In 2019, police officers killed 1,099 people throughout the nation. Among the individuals, 24% were black, despite being only 13% of the population in the United States. Clearly, there is a systemic issue at hand. Statistics are readily available, all you have to do is google a few key terms to learn more.
Personally, as a white woman in America, I know there is much more I have to learn in order to understand my role, but I’m prepared to do my part to be on the right side of history. We are witnessing an outcry for reform before more damage is done. So, what do we do now? Well, we must acknowledge that there is a clear voice demanding reforms of a broken system. It is our duty as citizens of a free country to listen and be lights of change. It appears that every time we go forward with movements for change in the justice system, a black individual is killed in a hate crime. In my own life, I have not experienced “bad cops” because of my privilege as a white woman. I have recently acknowledged this blind spot in my life, and I think I understand why there has been such a lack of white support. If I had been constantly racially profiled from a young age, I would have such a different outlook on the justice system. Now more than ever, I know that my voice and opinion could cause a ripple of change, just as the protests and riots I’ve just recounted have impacted so many people’s lives. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to fixing a broken system of justice, but listening to each other is the first step. So I challenge communities not directly affected in the same way minorities are by police brutality: educate yourselves with numbers and deep-dives beyond posts by Lebron James or Snoop Dogg. Listening is the first step, and I’m ready if you are.
Rodney King (died 2012), Michael Brown, George Floyd, and the countless victims of racism and hate crimes we are aware and unaware of, rest in power.
Text Floyd to 55156 to sign the petition
Sources:
https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/violence-again-rocks-minneapolis-after-mans-death-1-killed/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30193354
