Reflecting on Michael Brown: The Need for Reforms in Policing
As I quickly rubbed the sleep from my eyes, startled by both the doorbell and the powerful knocking on the door, I threw on a hoodie, the only thing I could find in the dark room, and covered myself while running to answer. As soon as I opened the door, and as if my life was fast-forwarding, my eyes quickly gazed over the four cop cars outside. Just as quickly as the humidity of the Florida air hit my face, my eyes were looking directly into the barrel of a black gun. My hands shot up immediately and as I think back to this memory now, I often wonder to myself, “What if the officer had shot first and asked questions later?”
I remember this moment as clear as day. It is burned into my memory. It was before the shootings we know of today such as Michael Brown and Rekia Boyd, but just a few weeks after the Trayvon Martin shooting. I was Black, unarmed innocence just like my brothers and sisters, and with one wrong move, I could have been killed for being in the right place at the right time, but Black.
Unconscious racism, disguised as colorblindness, rests on cognitive psychology and cultural understandings, to which none of us are immune. Even the Supreme Court has ignored racial profiling in the courtroom, and has given officers the right to use deadly force without consequences. In Graham v. Connor, the Supreme Court decided that if an officer reasonably believes the suspect poses an immediate threat of death or serious physical harm to them or others, they can use deadly force. However, the Court has ignored that many officers’ reasons for use of force are their subjective beliefs also known as racial profiling.
By ignoring research that repeatedly shows hidden biases lead people to see African-Americans as aggressive, superhuman, less vulnerable to pain, or inferior, America has set a standard that often justifies an officer’s use of deadly force. But the reality is that if officers were truly being reasonable, there would be far less incidents of police brutality.
We need to create a space where each and every one of our stories can be confronted and received, and a space where we can define reasonableness that embraces race. One without the other leads to overwhelming violence and wearisome impartiality. This space is the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA).
The only things protecting officers from being held accountable for their racial profiling is their badges. Under the ERPA, officers would be required to pause and gather more information before pulling people over, searching, or shooting them, and the level of error would significantly go down. The Act would also create a national prohibition against racial profiling by law enforcement. The ERPA will not only hold officers accountable, but it will also encourage effective long-term education, conversation, and relationships. If we want to see police protecting our communities instead of profiling our communities, then we need Congress to implement the ERPA.
It’s been a year since Michael Brown’s death, and our people are still trapped in a perpetual prison created by systematic racism and a colorblind cop-out view. So, until the ERPA is put into place, officers will continue to discriminate against our children. They will continue to move in packs that survive on fear, yet cannot digest guilt. Our words, cries, and concerns will fall on deaf ears; we will be left unable to breathe, locked in the chokehold of racial profiling, and left waiting face down on pavements with no justice.
Nicole Duncan | NAACP Legal Fellow
