My Reaction to George Floyd's Murder and Aftermath

I love my country, and have dedicated my life to learning and teaching the history of America. Right now, however, I am furious at the current state of America, angry at the blatant racism and police brutality that has gone unchecked for too long.  I am sad that so many people of color constantly live in fear of those whose job it is to serve and protect.  At the same time, I am hopeful that America has reached a tipping point in which people in positions of power will finally hear black voices and make real and lasting changes to the systems of oppression that currently dominate America.

The recent, tragic and totally unnecessary deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breona Taylor make it abundantly clear that racism continues to exist in America at both an individual and systemic level.  Police are three times as likely to shoot black people, and in 2019 black people made up 24% of police killings despite only being 13% of the population (https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/).  This has been an ongoing issue throughout the 21^st century, and despite many marches and demands from people of all races to institute sweeping systemic changes in the policing and justice system, very little has changed.  For over two centuries American politics, policing, and judicial system have all been built on racist ideals.  While people inside the institutions have become more aware of racism, the inherent building blocks of the system continues to discriminate against people of color.  A brief history lesson to show how this has happened over the years:

• One of the first laws passed by Congress in 1790 stated that citizenship would only be extended to whites.  This law was in place until after the Civil War (White by Law, by Ian Haney-Lopez).
• Following the failure of Reconstruction in the South, “Redeemers” tried their best to re-make the Confederacy, including the modification of a justice system that targeted blacks, imprisoned them, and then forced them to work for the highest bidder.  This essentially re-institutionalized slavery in the south until after World War II (Slavery by Another Name, by Douglas Blackmon).
• Throughout the progressive era and into the Great Depression in the 1930s, white media stereotyped black men as rapists.  White men in the southern U.S. used this stereotype to justify and carry out hundreds of lynchings, at times with thousands looking on.  One of the most horrific lynchings in history took place in 1916, when a lynch mob strung up 18 year old Jesse Washington, amputated his hands, and burned him alive.  This took place in Texas in front of a crowd of 15,000 (Making of a Lynching Culture, by William D. Carrigan).
• The 1950s and 1960s led to a more organized and effective Civil Rights Movements.  Leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ella Baker organized peaceful protests that white police often met with brutal violence.  Others, such as Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, and Huey Newton felt that the only answer to violent hate crimes was violent self-defense.  In schools, students learn that the Civil Rights Movement began in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education and ended in 1965 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.  This is a dangerous train of thought.  While all those who bravely put their lives on the line to fight for equal rights should be recognized, right wing politicians created the lie that the Civil Rights Movement was over and racial equality achieved in order to stop people from continuing to fight for equal rights (The Long Civil Rights Movement, by Jacquelyn Dowd-Hall).
• Throughout all of American history, white men consistently raped and harassed black women with no punishment.  Despite thousands of documented cases of rape and sexual assault from the end of the Civil War until the 1950s, it wasn’t until 1959 that an American court convicted a white man of rape.  For an in depth history of the failings of the American justice system when it comes to sexual violence against black women, read At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire. 
• The fight for school segregation did not end with the Civil Rights Movement in 1965, but continued into the 1990s.  As late as 1995, laws in California used race-neutral language in ballot initiatives that essentially cordoned off black citizens from living in certain areas and attending certain schools.  (Racial Propositions, by Daniel HoSang).
• The problem of systemic racism has continued throughout the 20^th century.  At the end of 2017, black prisoners made up 33% of the prison population, despite consisting of only 12% of the entire population.  While these rates have been declining over the past years, black prisoners still make up a plurality in prisons (https://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/30/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/). 
• According to a report conducted by The Sentencing Project and sent to the United Nations in 2014, imprisonment lengths are 5.9 times greater for black citizens than they are for whites (https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/). 

      These are just a few examples of the terrible injustices that have been perpetrated against the black community, both throughout American history and currently.  The trauma and impacts of major historical moments like the ones listed above do not go away after a generation or two.  Moments in history leave ripples that shape the future for hundreds of years.  In 2020, black communities continue to navigate the consequences of the countless overt and covert racist acts throughout American history.

      Now, I will address some common arguments made by people who feel that systemic racism isn’t a problem in America.

• It’s just a few bad eggs in the police force

There are not just a “few bad eggs” in the police force and the judicial system.  When police brutality happens on such a regular basis, the system is at fault.  The entire system is rotten because it continues to allow brutality against people of color with little consequence for the police committing these heinous crimes. 

• Being a member of the police force is dangerous and difficult.

Being a member of the police force is dangerous and difficult.  It is an important job, and when done correctly, benefits members of all communities.  However, policeman have authority and should be held to a high standard, and that standard must be enforced.  This means changes to policing such as a constant feed from body cams, training on how to de-escalate without using force, and more effective ways to use non-lethal force to subdue aggressive perpetrators.

•         They just need to obey the law, then they wouldn’t get in trouble with the police

This statement is blatantly false.  Some of the victims of police violence have been reading, bird watching, driving, or doing other harmless activities.  Under the Constitution, even if they were committing illegal acts, all criminals deserve due process.

•        What about black on black violence?

Black on black violence is an issue that needs addressing, but that is not the issue that I am addressing here.  Bringing that up is a non-sequitur. 

•      What about the rioting and looting?

Rioting and looting happens when a group has reached their wits end and feels unheard, oppressed, and like there is no other option to meet their goal.  The build up to the Revolutionary War was filled with riots and protests, the most famous being the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre. The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 took place when Mexican Americans finally pushed back against white servicemen harassing them. During the Civil Rights Movement, white police met peaceful and violent protests alike with tear gas, fire hoses, and pepper spray.  The Stonewall Riots of 1969 sparked the gay liberation movement. The 1992 riots in LA occurred when a jury acquitted four police officers of any wrongdoing in the death of Rodney King.  Violent protests happens when peaceful protests fail and when no other recourse exists, and is a sign that peaceful protest has failed.  Also, currently, many of the instigators of the riots come from alt-right and pro-police forces that seek to de-legitimize the actual protests.

•        People shouldn’t even notice color, but should be colorblind!

The colorblind argument ignores the systemic nature of racism in 2020.  Ideally, every person treats every other person like a human being regardless of race.  However, the American justice system does not do that.  By ignoring or making light of race, we belittle many of the real issues that people of color face throughout America.

            In conclusion, the justice system in America needs serious reform.  Those in positions of power to evaluate the ways in which their forefathers built the system on racist ideas and policies, and then work to dismantle that structure and build one that treats all citizens fairly and equally, regardless of race.  If you are as angry as I am about this, this website is a great resource for a few actions you can take to help enact these changes (https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234).