Police Violence Against Black Americans Is an International Human Rights Scandal
I have so few words--but lots of thoughts--about the ongoing deaths of Black people at the hands of police. Let's have a conversation in the comments section, shall we?
Normally, the Wednesday post is for paying subscribers. But Minneapolis is teetering on the edge of chaos again after the police murder of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn, Minnesota. Therefore, I want to open this post up to everyone to have a conversation about what is now an international human rights scandal: the death of Black people at the hands of the police. The comments section is open below: let others know what you think.
Here’s what I think: the killing of Black people by police, whether it is the consequence of a traffic stop, a petty crime, or doing ordinary things while Black, makes me sick. Sick. And angry. We must demand change, and frankly, marching and putting up signs is not addressing the problem.
Are you sick of Black people being murdered too? What do you think we need to do? My best idea, other than disarming ordinary police on patrol (which I think is a crucial reform), is that taxpayers should not be responsible for multi-million dollar civil settlements: Let’s take these awards made to grieving families out of police pension funds, why don’t we? Perhaps then the powerful police associations, PACs, and unions will be forced to grapple with the American they have helped to make.
So here’s the deal: instead of writing a post today, I want you to write. I want to know what you think and what you would do if you could. I have supplied some readings below that address some of the issues: feel free to provide new links in your comments.
Today we are a pop-up think tank focused on the question: how will we stop these killings? Forward this post to friends and include them in the conversation too. Anyone who signs up for a free subscription is invited to comment: if they want to pay, that is all to the good, and it helps compensate me for the time I spend on this newsletter—but really, right now, there are more important things at stake.
#BlackLivesMatter.
Image credit: Mural portrait of George Floyd by Eme Street Art in Mauerpark, Berlin, Germany/Wikimedia Commons.
The facts as we know them: “What to Know About the Police Shooting of Daunte Wright.” (New York Times, April 13, 2021)
J. Brian Charles, a reporter whose expertise is in urban violence and policy solutions to it, examines the outcome of federally-supervised police reform in Newark, New Jersey: a year without one civilian death. But much remains to be done, and the future is uncertain: “Trust has been hard-won,” Charles writes, “the product of decades of work by activists, political pressure from the mayor, and federal intervention.” (The Trace, April 12, 2021)
Alyssa Oursler and Anna DalCortivo write about the exhausted but determined activists who mobilize after every police murder in the Twin Cities. “What does it mean to actually be free?” one asked the assembled crowd outside the courthouse where the Derek Chauvin trial is in its second week. “’Cause let me tell you: I don’t feel free.” (The Nation, April 12, 2021)
At the conservative National Review, Rich Lowry thinks protesters should wait for the facts and refrain from destroying chain stores (April 13, 2021), while Kevin D. Williamson says accidental police shootings are a real argument against arming the police: “we’d be better off if they were like the British bobbies of old armed only with truncheons.” (April 13, 2021)
At The Editorial Board, John Stoehr agrees with Williamson. He, too, suggests that, as a matter of policy, we take guns away from our police (n.b.: my mother, who is 87 and no flaming radical, thinks this too.) “Taking guns away from local law enforcement officials sounds crazy,” Stoehr writes. “But think about it. Is it any more absurd than what we are seeing right now? How many times does a Black man have to die at the hands of a police officer who is looking for a reason—any reason—to use legitimate force during a routine traffic stop?” (April 13, 2021)
Congressman Jamie Raskin demands that the FBI take action against the infiltration of people who are members of white supremacist organizations into the nation’s police forces. It has been a problem that they have been tracking for fifteen years. (The Guardian, March 10, 2021)
At The Liberal Patriot (April 13, 2021), John Halpin seems to think that police violence and citizen violence are the same threat to our liberty, demonstrating conclusively why some people think liberals are annoying. As someone who is always open to a liberal argument, I was infuriated by this post: only someone who has never lived in a crime-ridden neighborhood, where the police are running rampant and frequently on the take, could think such things. But maybe I’m losing it. You tell me.
So let’s get the conversation started, shall we? And if readers would be interested in attending a Clubhouse on this topic, let me know in your comment: I will host it, and up to six subscribers can get a Clubhouse invitation from me.
Take it away, political junkies.
Thank you for this.
I offer this link today from The Guardian, one of the best sources of news there is, in my opinion: US Police and Public Officials donated to the Defense Fund of Kyle Rittenhouse who murdered two Black protestors in cold blood. See here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/16/us-police-officers-public-officials-crowdfunding-website-data-breach