Notice that I did not say I am anti-cop (though many people will likely assume that anyway). I am not anti-cop because I recognize that some police officers are truly doing their jobs. They believe in justice, and follow the motto to “protect and serve.”
That being said, I do not support the police. I am anti-police. Not on an individual level, but on an institutional level. Because the institution of the police, whether you look at a single department or entire states, has proven to be persecutory and ruthless.
Let’s begin with the fact that modern-day police departments evolved directly from runaway slave catching organizations from back when slavery was still protected under the law. Therefore, while the public objective of said institution may have changed, the infrastructure has stayed relatively stable through the last two centuries.
The past couple years have increased tensions between Americans and police, specifically affected the Black community (but I’ll get into that later). 695 people have been reported killed by police officers just since January 1st of this year, and in 2015 98% of these incidents ended with the officer(s) involved facing no charges.
These numbers are shocking on their own, but consider the following: in 2014, 1100 people were killed by police in the US. The total number of US troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan was 58. The number of people killed by law enforcement in Canada in 2014 was 14, in the UK it was 1, and in China it was 12.
12.
A country with over 1.4 billion people reported 12 people killed by police. The US had 92 times more people killed by police in 2014. There is a serious problem here.
Now that I have your general attention, let’s segue into talking about the relationship between police and Black Americans specifically. I already mentioned the history of slave control, but in modern times the relationship has morphed into just good ol’ fashioned systemic racism.
I want to reference here that Black people are killed by police on an almost daily basis, with the latest victim being 23-year-old mother Korryn Gaines, shot in front of her five-year-old, who was then also shot, in their Baltimore home. If it feels like there’s always a new name trending, from Trayvon Martin to Freddie Gray to Eric Garner to Mike Brown to Sandra Bland, and most recently Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, it’s because there’s always a new Black person killed by police.
Typically, I would add here that these Black people, with the exception of Gaines, were unarmed, but a close friend and empowered Black woman recently put this into question by criticizing the label of “unarmed.” When armed and threatening white men are apprehended alive by police every day, why is it wrong to expect the same for armed Black people? When armed white people are inherently less threatening than armed Black people, race is the true perceived threat.
As such, I will no longer denote each victim of police violence as being either armed or unarmed; either way, police officers have a duty to not kill people.
On that note, let’s discuss these videos of cops doing public services and treating people fairly. The “blue lives matter” brigade loves to share these videos online with blurbs urging people to recognize that “not all police are bad.” Sidenote: it feels incredibly mundane to be congratulating people for doing the one job they are paid to do, but I digress. The most recent one making its rounds on social media is a video of a Virginia cop pulling over a Black woman and giving her ice cream.
This is sweet, and honestly does make me smile when I watch it. And then I remember that officers in nearby Maryland are busy shooting young women and five-year-olds, and the warm feeling goes away. While it’s nice to see videos of cops going out of their way to try and be better for their own communities, it’s simply not enough.
Black people can do without the surprise ice cream, I’m sure they would rather not live in fear of the very people paid to protect them.
To those police officers who want to make a difference in this trying time, use your place in this institution and hold your peers accountable. Demand systemic changes to the law enforcement industry. Lead by example. Please. Because too many people are not respecting the fact that Black Lives Matter.
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