How do you feel about the police? Do you see them as people who are there to protect you from crime? Can you depend on them? This should be the standard and in some areas, it is. I’m sure you can guess as to what I will bring up. You know because it is a huge issue. You know because in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police officers and it sparked a huge outrage and nationwide protests under the Black Lives Matter movement. You know this because there wasn’t a space where it wasn’t brought up. But why did his death do this?
Contrary to popular belief, these sorts of injustices did not start at George Floyd. His death was one of millions that have occurred since the start of slavery in America. Okay…well now this is completely unrelated, right? Why am I bringing up slavery if what happened to George Floyd happened recently? The police actually originated at the beginning of slavery as a way to uphold Black Codes, laws put in place to limit the freedoms and opportunities of Black Americans. The police’s original agenda was not to protect and serve in the exact way we associate that phrase with. The origins of modern-day policing evolve from what was known as the “Slave Patrol.” Officers were there to make sure there were no slave rebellions then after the abolishment of slavery, the goal was to keep Black people in a constant stage of terror by constantly monitoring them on the streets, hurting or lynching them or placing them in jail to keep them off the streets. Not so fun fact: loitering laws came to be because white people did not like seeing Black people wander the streets, standing around idly at a time where it was hard to find jobs during segregation. Thus, it became a reason to criminalize them and incarcerate them. Even MLK Jr. fell victim to these laws, being arrested for standing outside of a courthouse.
That’s a lot of info. I know. But even though slavery was a while ago, the effects are still here today. There are many people alive who lived through segregation, who had not yet been afforded rights. Ruby Bridges is a prime example, she’s currently 71 years old. Also, did you know Rosa Parks died in 2005? That’s when I was born. It’s crazy to think about but it places things into perspective. It’s understandable to think racism has ended when there are no laws preventing Black people from being protected or getting into school or getting the jobs they want. However, these are rules on paper. Although police officers now cannot harm or kill Black people for being Black, they can state on the record that the reason for doing so was because they felt threatened or because it was necessary to protect others. Racism knows no bounds. It hides in places that people can’t fathom questioning.
These kinds of experiences are what leave Black people in a constant state of terror. Even if they’re not personally affected, witnessing other Black people being murdered can lead Black people to have serious mental and physical health effects. In Rahwa Haile and other co-writers’ article on the direct and indirect health consequences of police violence in the U.S., they find disturbing correlations. “Maternal incarceration is associated with infant mortality and low birthweight, paternal incarceration is associated with child mortality, and parental incarceration during childhood is associated with elevated levels of inflammation and allostatic load in adulthood” (Haile, et. al., 2). Even children are not spared the effects that police violence has on them. And although these are cases of incarceration, “the probability of being unarmed and shot by police is three times greater than for white people and the probability of being shot by police is the same for Black people without weapons as it is for armed white people” (Haile, et. al., 4). Blackness is the greatest threat that can be perceived and it is enough justification to shoot and kill. And the constant not knowing is a deep set trauma that has caused generations of Black people to hold distrust for police. If Black people can’t rely on the police to help them, where are they supposed to go? In your next interaction with the police, ask yourself if they’re there to protect and serve you. If not you, then who?
I definitely feel like the justice system has failed to live up to its intended purpose of serving and protecting all citizens. Instead, as you highlighted throughout history, they only protect white people and won’t think twice about killing a person of color. This is definitely scary because, in all honesty, while of course not all law enforcement is bad, due to the constant hostility and forced police have used upon people of color, it’s hard to tell at times who’s good and who’s not, which makes every interaction with law enforcement scary for people of color.