The Inherent Racist Structure of the American Police System

Opinion by Srinidhi Manthena

There are two origin stories for the American Police System. In the early 1700s, slave patrols, white volunteers, were instituted to catch runaway slaves. They could forcefully enter people’s home to see if anyone was sheltering slaves. They were allowed to use as much force as they needed to find slaves or to stop uprisings. This also would lead to the death of many slaves as the slave patrols got caught up in the power and their racist mindsets. The more modern law enforcement was started the in 1900s. They were told to target minorities and were also white males. The power that law enforcement created for the police led to police brutality and police corruption. This would eventually lead to the system we have in place now.

Even with anti-racist laws, black people are still more targeted than any other group in the U.S. Common crimes meant death to the black community. Police brutality allows the cop in question to kill someone without having any consequences with the justice system. As more and more days pass, more and more innocent black lives are taken with the racist mindset in cops. Black American are 2-3 times more likely to be killed by the police than their white counterparts. ACAB means that “all cops are bastards”. This does not mean that all cops are bad, but they choose to work under an inherently racist system which gives them more power. This power allows them to be above the law. George Floyd’s case is a prime example of police brutality. Floyd was not resisting and was unarmed yet he had a police officer’s knee on his neck for 20 dollars, simply because of the color of his skin. For 20 dollars, which was later proven to be real, Floyd was dehumanized and put in a chokehold. Choosing to continue to work for this system means that you are agreeing with what Derek Chauvin and the three other officers did to George Floyd.

Police Officers are actually encouraged to patrol black communities more than white communities. This creates the unbalance between how many black people get arrested than white people. As more police officers are told to work in black communities, they reinforce the inherent racism which leads to police brutality.

This system must be broken down and changed completely because if it doesn’t, more and more innocent black lives will be taken.

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Credits

Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images