Words cannot adequately describe the tragedy of George Floyd’s death and the unequivocal failings of the criminal justice system, which are clearly evident from the chilling video that was released. This deserves not only the massive show of solidarity that has manifested on social media and in the form of peaceful protests, but also a deeper analysis of how something like this happens and how to prevent it.
The most overwhelming response to the tragedy has been a demand for justice, a demand for all four officers to be fired and charged and for Derek Chauvin’s charges to be upgraded to first degree murder. In the immediate sense, this would remove these particular officers from situations where they would be able to inflict more harm. It may provide some closure to the family and comfort in the knowledge that justice has been served. It may give the black community a sense of safety, knowing that the justice system is somewhat more consistent and that there are consequences to harming a black person. However, it will unfortunately fall short of preventing further George Floyd incidents.
One might ask, “But wouldn’t this serve as a deterrent?” In civil society, this may be true. Police officers, on the other hand, often operate on adrenaline and perhaps even steroids, almost constantly in survival mode, and relying on base human instinct, especially after years of working in crime-ridden neighborhoods. When I watched the video of the murder, I saw a broken, desensitized officer with an incredible level of apathy. How far would a deterrent go?
The next level of change is police and criminal justice reform. During the Nixon-era war on drugs, although black people and white people used illicit drugs at similar rates, black people were nearly 3 times more likely to be arrested for it. Former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman even admitted, “We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” Between 1998 and 2014, during the war on terror, military hardware sent to the police skyrocketed from $9.4 million to $796.8 million. Coupled with a $5 billion private prison industry, a perverse incentive structure has developed. Evidence-based solutions have been proposed and advocated by Andrew Yang, to his credit, including accountability, tracking, federal oversight, use of force rules, demilitarization, and non-police responders. While worthy of consideration and implementation, these are still Band-Aids that only mitigate the issue, addressing the problem at the level at which it is occurring rather than at its root: economics.
Few have directly addressed economic disparity in this context, among them Marianne Williamson and Dr. Cornel West.
During the emancipation of slaves, every black family was promised 40 acres and a mule, but this was not delivered. Black Americans were expected to pull themselves up by their bootstraps in a society that did not allow much room for upward mobility. In 2016, the net worth of a typical white family in America was $171,000, nearly ten times greater than a typical black family ($17,150). In a society in which wealth translates to power and political influence can be legally bought, it should come as no surprise that black people in America are treated as second class citizens. As long as this disparity exists, there are going to be high rates of crime in poor black neighborhoods, stereotyping of the black community, and reactionary police brutality. There are a variety of methods of remedying the situation, including reparations, direct economic relief to black communities, social programs, universal basic income, universal healthcare, tuition-free college, elimination of tax loopholes, and a wealth tax among others.
The rioting and looting that have followed the widespread peaceful protests have elicited a mix of responses. Some have understood this to be an extension of the peaceful protests, justifying it with the Martin Luther King, Jr, quote: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Others have decried the violence, cherry picking the rioters to vilify their group of choice without much supporting evidence: Black Lives Matter, undercover police officers, Antifa, and of course our favorite scapegoat: Russians. The broader point is that regardless of the identity of these individuals, rioting and looting is a sign of illness in a society that has failed to provide for its people, no doubt uncovered by the pandemic and resulting economic depression with an over 20% unemployment rate. It is an alarm bell that we would be foolish to ignore.
Written by Ramya. Artwork by Dhanya.
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