“No Justice, No Peace”. As millions of people across the world take to the streets and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing problem of unequal justice, it is important to understand how racial injustice affects black individuals. What does it mean to be black in 2020? We can see that often the color of our skin speaks louder than our words and actions. The BlackLivesMatter Movement has been an emerging movement fighting for change against the treatment of African-American’s in the United States of America. The movement was originally sparked due to a police officer being absolved of all charges after committing murder by shooting an innocent African-American man. The recent murder of George Floyd has once again placed the racist societal paradigms in focal points of politics, and just a single one of the 1098 people killed by the police on a yearly basis.
Why has justice been so hard to acquire for profiled individuals?
The question that has been plaguing many minds is “Why?”. Justice has been difficult to attain for the crimes done by police officers due to a deeply rooted belief in America that the police are always right. The American society, as well as the rest of the world, has grown up on the fact that the police are a beacon of safety and should be respected. According to a CNN article, a state attorney general has stated that “the jury tends to resolve doubts in favor of the police”. Often the jury believes the police due to them being a credible source if there is a lack of evidence.
Moreover, police officers have ‘qualified immunity’. The Supreme Court has created qualified immunity in 1967, wherein an exception is made for public officials who have acted in “good faith” and they believed that their actions were authorized by the law, it is stated that they are immune unless the victim has sufficient evidence that their right was “clearly established”. One of the main issues with this is that The Supreme Court has often reinforced an extremely narrow definition of “clearly established”. This then leads lower courts to accept such cases but only if there are circumstances very similar to the case they are weighing. Hence, rather than analyzing and reviewing the case, The Supreme Court is allowed to simply dismiss the case as there are no cases similar to it in the past.
America is finally faced with a reason to change, George Floyd’s death was not the first and it surely will not be that last.
What are the roots of racial profiling in the policing system?
Racial profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era.” It occurs every day, in cities and towns across the country, when law enforcement targets people of color and minorities, humiliating and often leading to detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. Although racial profiling is not backed by written statutes, its roots are in the laws enacted during colonial times.
There are two historical narratives about the origins of American law enforcement. Policing in southern slave-holding states had roots in slave patrols, squadrons made up of white volunteers empowered to use vigilante tactics to enforce laws related to slavery. They located and returned enslaved people who had escaped, and crushed uprisings led by enslaved people and punished enslaved workers found or believed to have violated plantation rules. These factors – including civil disorder, lack of adequate police training, lack of nonwhite officers and slave patrol origins – are among the forerunners of modern-day police brutality against African Americans.
Throughout history, powerful white men and women have endorsed racist ideologies in order to justify the racist policies of their era, and in order to redirect the blame for their era’s racial disparities onto black people. Normal shouldn’t brutalize or diminish. It shouldn’t ignore nor excuse injustice. But injustice perseveres. As millions of people across the globe take to the streets amid the pandemic and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and police brutality— we know the problem of unequal justice persists. This leads us to question the legitimacy of the U.S. government, as what legitimacy could their actions have on land stolen through indigenous genocide, built with the slavery of African people and the imperialist plundering of Asia and Latin America?
Why have the concerns not been addressed?
George Floyd is not the only victim of anti-blackness in the American judicial system. Whilst strict laws have been enforced to minimize oppression in policing, the main barrier and obstacles for equality is not because of the laws, but the culture surrounding police brutality. The lack of social accountability and detention of officers with racially motivated police brutality cases has caused the acceptance of such culture.
It is why we continue to see waves after waves of protests against police brutality that yield no significant results. Policymakers are focused on preventing such measures of police brutality, but do little to none on addressing existing cases, which has played a massive part in normalising such oppressive behaviour. Moreover, many point out that arming police officers with more ammunition and authorising excessive force to ‘deter crime’ is the cause of such acts - eventually leading to the ‘Defund the Police’ movement. When we arm police officers and give them the power of playing judge and jury, how can we not expect to see victims similar to George Floyd? Politicians vow to implement measures to deter racial profiling and violent acts, but are largely ineffective because existing criminal officers have cases dismissed or are not held accountable. One cannot help but think - why did it take the law so long to accuse the 4 murderers of George Floyd? Would they even have been arrested had it not been for the protests?
How can the USA hope to reform its system?
In light of all the protests and increase in national and international solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement, expectations from protestors and supporters around the world have only increased. While the unfortunate death of George Floyd only sparked the fire of fury against the police and their racist brutality, the people have been witness to accounts of similar cases on the daily all over the USA. While at the forefront of protests, the youth want to see a change, they want to see reform in the American Police System and Laws rather than the just the weak prosecution of the guilty police which in itself took days of protest and international pressure. The people want to see a reformed system that produces police officers who are well trained in high tension situations, familiar with handling dangerous and peaceful suspects, but most importantly, screened, tested and evaluated for implicit and explicit racial biases.
An average police officer trainee needs to complete around 22 weeks of Police Academy to be certified as a Police Officer whereas a cosmetologist would need to spend at least 40 weeks to become a certified professional. It’s concerning that the people who do our hair are expected to train longer than the people whose hands their lives are essentially in. The biggest concern is that officers aren’t being trained in the right ways; where more time is being spent on firearms management rather than risk-assessment and peaceful mediation techniques. As a result of this, we often see situations of police brutality or non-encounter deaths due to a lack of proper prior training. The people want police officers to not only undergo better training that equips them physically, mentally and psychologically but also to be held accountable when they make mistakes. While the US policing system and funds dedicated towards it definitely need to be regulated, it is also important that people also understand that it's the system that is flawed and not necessarily every single police officer. George Floyd’s death is unfortunately only one of the many cases of police brutality, specifically towards people of colour and while it has resulted in major global protests, it is only a small step in achieving a more equal, accepting and fair society.
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