Black And Blue

A fragile existence

Black In America

Photos/Illustrations by Betsy Kiel

Floyd, Taylor, Martin, King, and Arbery. These are just a few names in the tragic landscape of police brutality and vigilante justice.

After experiencing an episode of unconscious racial bias in the workplace, a colleague remarked so to voice. “Racism never sleeps.”

As an African American male, my interactions with law enforcement have been fraught with stress and a hint of menace. One night while walking home from work, I came within a hair-trigger of being yet another statistic of police over-reaction —Castile, Gray, and McDonald.

Guns were drawn, as I was mistakenly identified as being one of the usual suspects —Garner, Brown, Scott, and Rice.

I had a visceral reaction to the horrific murder of George Floyd. It was the ultimate grotesque perversion of justice and symbolized the painful systematic institutionalized racism endured by African Americans for over 400 years. In addition, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic deadly disproportionate impact on people of color allied to high unemployment and you had the perfect explosive ingredients for the social upheaval that followed.

The chickens of our nations ‘original sin,’ slavery, are finally coming home to roost. Decades of inequality in the realms of justice, health, education, and economic opportunity have left many bereft of hope and close to the edge.

We are now at a historic inflection point as a multicultural American coalition demands an end to racial injustice. This clarion call for change is now a global phenomenon, it would seem that change is at hand.

Central to this idea of seismic change is the issue of Police reform, which has to happen. Accountability and transparency need to be central tenets of any progressive moves to change the negative image many people have of law enforcement. Police union's intransigence ferocious defense of its members has meant that the successful prosecution of rogue cops is extremely rare, therefore, communities of color literally have a license to kill.

Police cannot be allowed to police themselves, and, for the public to have faith in the system, there must be independent oversight.

---

---

We need a paradigm in our approach to law enforcement in which police are seen less like an occupying army, but a more highly integrated community-based partner.

Last, bloated police budgets have added to the increased militarism of police departments nationwide. This trend was on full display as police dispatched peaceful protesters with brutal efficiency past Floyd’s death. With crumbling infrastructure, homelessness, chronic underinvestment in human capital, and a myriad of other social ills, perhaps it is time to change priorities and reallocate tax dollars.

The warrior psyche of law enforcement needs to evolve. It leads to the notion we are less than human and need to be policed over aggressively. Deadly chokeholds and the lack of transparency over officers' disciplinary records are positive metrics of change that need to be instituted.

The winds of change, are blowing as evidenced by the multicultural hordes who marched for George Floyd. Our shared humanity unites us, and we look forward to the day when black lives are truly valued, and the specter of police violence exiled to the distant past.