The Protection of Inequality

The tragic murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have evoked civil unrest in response to social injustice. Centuries of systemic inequality has created a society where 1 in 1,000 African-American males are likely to be killed at the hands of law enforcement.⁣
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Nixon’s ‘War on Drugs’ was a covert post-civil rights tactic to criminalise based on economic inequality and race, forming the lucrative mass-incarceration-for-profit. Decades of discriminatory homeownership practises created poverty-stricken, race-segregated neighbourhoods. The crack-epidemic tore through these areas and saw Reagan intensify the so-called ‘War’, disproportionately handing harsher sentences for crack offences compared to that of cocaine prominent among European-Americans.⁣
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Heavily publicised arrests justified this discrimination and politicians and news outlets began to coin dehumanising terms such as ‘monster’ and ‘super-predator.’ The overrepresentation of POC as criminals added to centuries of social conditioning which instilled irrational public fear.⁣
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Laws which give officers a right to kill when subjectively experiencing an imminent threat, rationalise the fear-based training provided for police. The ‘Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights’ effective in 16 states, inc Minnesota and Louisiana allow suspect-officers prior access to evidence. In court, the Grand Jury rely on the prosecutor’s case — who often have a positive working relationship with the police. This collusion creates a lack of consequence seen in 2018 where police unions ‘donated’ over $13k to prosecutor’s days after Stephon Clark’s murder. But with police records kept confidential, levels of misconduct are difficult to scope.⁣
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Like the death of white American, Justine Ruszczyk by Somali-American officer, Mohamed Noor resulted in a 12.5year sentence and the recent arrest of CNN reporter Omar Jimenez, racial disparity and mistreatment are evident.⁣
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Decades of injustice has brewed hostility, with peaceful protests lacking reform and acrimonious acts of destruction garnering mass media coverage providing a voice to the voiceless. But without the ability to catch these incidents on camera, would we see a level of justice being served?

Written by Ali Twice for @originalshift