Black America’s On-going Struggle with Police Violence

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police arrested an African-American man named George Floyd. During the arrest, police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Over this short period of time, Floyd started struggling to breathe and called out for mercy. Meanwhile, other police officers accompanying Chauvin stood by, allowing the murder to unfold. The entire incident was caught on camera by on looking bystanders, and has been shared multiple times over social media. The incident triggered mass protests all over the United States, as many of the country’s major cities were mired in demonstrators chanting Floyd’s last words: “I can’t breathe”. Eventually, many of the demonstrations escalated into riots, as groups such as ANTIFA and anarchists started to destroy public property, while some people used the chaos as an opportunity to loot stores. The riots have had an extraordinary effect on the government, as President Trump took to twitter to threaten those taking part in the protests, and the National Guard was sent to some cities in an attempt to deescalate the situation. Moreover, many states cities such as Chicago, New York and San Francisco have issued curfews to demotivate the public from joining protests and/or riots. While this is not the first time riots have occurred following a brutal treatment of an African American, it is the first time that rioting has simultaneously taken place across many states. Moreover, while these protests and riots have happened in front of a backdrop of a brutal murder of a black civilian, there are many factors that have led to these current circumstances. First and foremost, there’s the Trump administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, as its slow response caused more than 100,000 Americans to lose their lives. Meanwhile, business closures that resulted from the pandemic have caused 40 million Americans to lose their jobs. So to recap, the average American has been unnecessarily exposed to the virus, and many have lost their source of health insurance. Furthermore, millions are now at home bored without anything to do, and school/universities are approaching summer break. All these factors pointed to a disaster waiting to happen, and all that was needed now was a simple trigger to kick start said disaster. While the events are in many ways unprecedented, this isn’t the first time such riots happened. During the eighteenth centuries, policing was an informal institution that was not government regulated and relied heavily on volunteer vigilantes. In the South, slave patrols consisting of white men were formed in order to keep an eye on black slaves and make sure they didn’t escape their owners. As some white families and individuals were aiding escaping slaves by hiding them in their homes, these slave patrols would search homes suspected of hiding slaves. When these patrolmen found slaves trying to escape, they would lash them as punishment. After the Civil War had ended and slaves were emancipated, several states, particularly those in the South, enacted Black Codes which gave the newly freed slaves limited rights and effectively only granted former slaves low wage jobs. When the 14th amendment was passed to grant citizenship to former black slaves, many states began issuing Jim Crow laws, which attempted to circumvent the 14th amendment. Under the Jim Crow laws, public facilities in a state would be separate but equal. That meant that there would be segregated institutions for whites and blacks, but these institutions would be equal in quality. For instance, there would be schools exclusively for white children and schools exclusively for black children and although segregated, they would, in theory, provide the same quality of education. In practice, that wasn’t the case as facilities made for African Americans were often underfunded and as a result black Americans did not have the same opportunities presented to their white counterparts. As policing became more institutionalised in the nineteenth century, the unfair laws became engrained into American policing, and officers would arbitrarily target black Americans for miscellaneous reasons. In addition to institutionalized racism, African-Americans would also be the target of public racial attacks, and in some cases blacks would lynched to death by white members of the public. What’s worse is that these lynchings would often go unpunished by authorities. In one infamous 1916 incident in Waco, Texas, a young black man named Jesse Washington was accused of raping and killing the white wife of his employer. Washington was subsequently arrested and was put on trial in front of a racially biased jury consisting of white jury members. The jury found him guilty, and he himself pleaded guilty. It should be noted that there are reports that indicate that he might have had learning difficulties so there was a chance that he might not have been fully aware of what was happening around him. In anyway, after the conviction, an angry mob formed in the courthouse and Washington was chained and paraded through the streets. The crowds then built a large bonfire under a tree, and Washington was lynched and repeatedly lowered into the fire for almost two hours, as such Washington was literally roasted to death. These unjust laws became the background for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, which gave rise to several African American activists such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. These activists would often hold marches or disobey unjust laws, and they would often be arrested for doing so. Rosa Parks was famously arrested for riding in the front of a public bus in Alabama, a section reserved for white riders. Although the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, discrimination in policing still persisted. One of the earliest incidents of racially motivated mass rioting in the US happened in 1965 in Watts, a city in South Los Angeles. South LA had a large African American community and it suffered from several issues such as deteriorating schools and lack of government funding. Moreover, 2/3 of South LA residents lacked a high school degree and many were living in out-dated housing structures. These conditions reaped frustration and animosity among the residents. On August 11, 1965, an altercation between a black family and police as a young black man named Marquette Frye was pulled over for reckless driving and subsequently failed a sobriety test. When the man’s mother, Rena Frye, got involved Marquette became hostile towards police and eventually a fight broke out between the Frye family and the police. This fight drew in crowds, but eventually Marquette, his mother and half brother were arrested. Eventually word spread around about the arrest and a rumour also circulated alleging that the police were abusing Rena. This sparked the Watts riots as stores were looted, buildings were set ablaze and crowds threw objects at the police. The riots then spread throughout South LA, and police were forced to call on the services of the National Guard. The riots lasted until August 16, and 34 people died in the riots. In spite of these riots, many of these injustices remained unaddressed and in less than three decades later another riot would be sparked in Los Angeles. In 1991, a young African-American man named Rodney King was caught speeding at the Foothill Freeway in LA, after a high speed police chase King pulled over. Four police officers subsequently beat up and tased King, however what they didn’t know was that a local resident was filming the incident nearby. The film footage was shown on TV news cycles, and caused a national stir. One year later, a trial was held on these four police officers and the jury was mostly made up of white Americans with a few minorities and only one half black man. The four officers were found innocent, triggering another series of riots in LA. What distinguished this riot from the previous one is the fact that it seemingly displayed the tensions between the African-American community and another minority group, Korean-Americans. Despite the fact that they were a minority group, Korean migrants who came to LA in the 1960s were able to start marginal businesses such as opening corner stores and liquor shops. However, by the 1980s, they had emerged as a model minority as their children began to move up the social ladder and attain higher education and better jobs. This brewed animosity and cultural misunderstanding between the African-American community and the Korean-American community, which spiralled during the riots. The fact that prior to the riots, a Korean-American storeowner had shot dead a black child after suspecting her of shoplifting didn’t help matters. During the riots, Korean owned stores were targeted by looters, and what made matters worse is that the police did little to help shop owners. Instead, Korean business owners had to fend for themselves and many gunfights happened between black rioters and Korean storeowners. While the police and National Guard were on duty in LA, they prioritised protecting affluent white neighbourhoods, while the riots went on for about a week causing 63 deaths. Eventually, the National Guard did make its way to Koreatown, but so much damage to livelihoods had already occurred by then. One year later, another trial was held on the police officers, and two out of the four cops were given prison sentences. Police brutality against African Americans wouldn’t improve in the coming years; in 1994, then President Bill Clinton enacted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. This new law had indirect negative effects on communities of colour in the United States, for instance the new bill had called for harsher sentences for youth convicts believed to be members of a gang. Because law enforcement reports indicate that 90 per cent of gang members are of minority backgrounds, the police have become more encouraged to target black and ethnic youths on the ground that they might be part of a gang. Furthermore, recent movements such as Black Lives Matter are evidence that police encarcaration and brutality towards African-Americans is still a massive problem that American society and lawmakers have failed to address. History has shown that riots have a tendency to fizzle out and things tend to go back to the way things were, however this time the riots are not centred in one state or city. Nevertheless, it is still too early to tell if this nationwide spread of protest and civil disobedience will result in any concrete changes.