Thursday, July 2, 2020

Are Black Americans victims of Police Militarization in the US

This article is by

Share this article

Article Contributor(s)

Nikhita Gautam

Article Title

Are Black Americans victims of Police Militarization in the US

Publisher

Global Views 360

Publication Date

July 2, 2020

URL

Chicago Police

Chicago Police | Source: noahwesley via Creative Commons

In the USA, there are reports of police using tear gas, flashbangs, and many other weapons to fight against the riots which are occurring now in over 350 cities against police brutality against the Black Community. There have been many reports on how the police brutality is disproportionate in terms of race; the Black people are thrice as likely to have violence committed on them by the police force than the whites, and the factor is 1.5 for the Hispanics. There is a first-hand account of a person present in the recent protests who talks about the use of batons on demonstrators.

This, however, leads to the question whether it was the militarization of the police force that caused violence towards minority communities. The police militarization was, in the aftermath of the 9/11 US terrorist attack, justified by the policymakers as a necessary tool to prevent the terrorist attacks in the future. This policy decision led to the military grade weapons and military style training regime for the police force. Some of the states in the US partnered with highly militarized police of Israel for training their police force. Such lethal weapons which were provided to the police force  used against terrorists were gradually used by the police force against common civilians on suspicion of minor crimes and the group of protestors.

The civil right groups were voicing concerns for many years about the use of disproportionate force on the Black and Hispanic Americans, which they blamed on the arming of police with lethal weapons. It was the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, who was shot and killed on Aug. 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Montana, USA that galvanised the public to demand for demilitarization of police force. As a response to public anger against the killing of Michael Brown, President Obama set up a Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This task force, in its report put special emphasis on de-escalating situations, with civilians in training and policies, and reduced funding by the Department of Homeland Security for such weapons. However these recommendations failed to have much effect on solving the issues at hand.

The continued use of such lethal weapons casts the police force as a separate, powerful entity which is to be feared, instead of a friendly cop who is trying to provide security to a citizen in distress. Such equipment serves to distance the police from the people, giving them power, and if left unchecked, entitlement over the rest of the citizens. In many instances the presence of a weapon itself leads to more aggressive behaviour and there have been calls to make the police wear body cams to restrain them from acting with disproportionate lethal force.

The racial profiling and discriminatory actions against the black and other communities that was already practiced by the police forces was now being enforced by more lethal power in the force’s hands. A study by Olugbenga Ajilore shows that counties with more race segregation were more likely to request additional weapons, and counties with an African American/Asian American population are more likely to acquire military equipment. Another report of 2017 shows a direct correlation between the degree of police militarization and the killing of civilians in police action.

It can be reasonably said that the militarization, in some sense, inflated the already existing racial profiling based violent actions of police force.

Support us to bring the world closer

To keep our content accessible we don't charge anything from our readers and rely on donations to continue working. Your support is critical in keeping Global Views 360 independent and helps us to present a well-rounded world view on different international issues for you. Every contribution, however big or small, is valuable for us to keep on delivering in future as well.

Support Us

Share this article

Read More

February 4, 2021 4:41 PM

What is the "Black Lives Matter" movement of USA

Over 55 years have passed since the signing of civil right laws which were supposed to be the panacea for all the ills of raciest abuses faced by the Black-Americans. A lot has increased since for the Black Americans but much more is still to do. They still live in the fear of law enforcement officials who monitor their movement on the street and also in their homes. The blacks are killed  at the lightest alleged provocation by city police without any fear of serious repercussion. The Federals law enforcement agencies also have a history of racist behavior and brutality towards black Americans.

“Black Lives Matter” movement was started in 2013, after a white person named George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin in February 2012. The movement got its name as the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was widely used on social media to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman.  This movement aims to highlight the injustices, brutality, oppression, gratuitous killings, systemic racism, ruthlessness, bad form, and unaccountably that American culture, particularly law implementation, harbours toward black individuals. Dissenters have pointed out the uncalled intensity of the police, military weaponry, and impulsive usage of the same. The problem of policing in America is more than just individual bad police officers, the culture protects wrongdoers and rewards blind loyalty and is impervious to change. American citizens have recognized these loopholes and will not tolerate these wrongdoings anymore

On 25th May 2020, a 46-year-old black man named George Floyd, died at the hand of a police officer after allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at the convenience store. The killing was extensively covered by the cross section of media across the USA and American public saw the horror of the painful death of an unarmed black person by the police. A national-wide protest erupted as millions of people, including whites came out in the streets,  demanding justice for George Floyd. Slogans such as “I can’t breathe”, “All lives will not matter unless black lives don’t”, “Stop police brutality” were raised on the streets across the cities of America. The “Black Lives Movement” which was hitherto mostly confined to a section of blacks youths, quickly expanded to include a wide section of American citizens. 

In his death George Floyd became the symbol of police brutality against the black community in the USA and brought the “Black Lives Matter” from the fringe to the center of American social and political discourse.

Read More