Police Brutality
Racial unrest is not a new thing in the US. But how it affects the political and social life in the country?
The new wave of racial unrests took place in May of 2020. That month a drug addict, robber, counterfeiter[1] who did his time in 1997 to 2005[2], George Floyd died due to the intoxication of methamphetamine.[3] Although, it is considered that police used over-excessive force on the suspect, he would still highly likely ended up dying from intoxication. This incident has sparked one of most brutal and violent series of racial unrest in the history of the US. Mass media and many people claim that the police was brutal to the suspect and they must be charged with first degree murder.[4]
In this chapter, we are going to study what effect did racial unrests of 2020 up to 2022 create on political and social life in America.
Police brutality against blacks
After the Floyd’s incident the slogan defund the police regained its popularity tremendously.[5][6] 36%[7] of Americans supported the idea of defunding and demilitarizing the police which is high for such a radical idea. This slogan was mostly popular among the blacks, after the Minneapolis incident the confidence in police dropped to 19%[8] among this group. The other polls conducted 3 weeks after the incident showed that 31%[9] of Americans think that the police must be defunded.
However, after the BLM riots of the summer when hundreds of buildings and cars were burnt, tens of people were killed, and the police was instructed to not suppress the rioters, people’s demand for spending on police got increased massively. The third table shows it.[10]
The effect on police after the racial unrests of 2020 is ambiguous. It is obvious that George Floyd incident ignited a new wave of racial protests which called for a systemic change in American policing. However, the police was never defunded. On contrary many cities began to spend more on it.[11] But on the other hand, many states passed new legislation on police the data shows.[12] These new legislations covered: use of force, duty for officers to intervene, report, or render medical aid in instances of police misconduct; and policies relating to law enforcement misconduct reporting and decertification.[13] In some states now. the police can use the deadly force only as a last resort decision, when they are 100% sure that their or other people’s lives are in danger.[14]
To sum up, regulating the police is really difficult. There are many cases when police become the victims[15] and disarming them is a ridiculous idea. Although, without a doubt, racial unrest resulting from George Floyd incident had massive effect on police from budgeting, regulating and opinion.
Table 1
Picture 1
Picture 2
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
[1] https://archive.vn/lZgec
[2] https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-life-of-george-floyd-biography-20200611-cxmlynpyvjczpbe6izfduzwv54-story.html [A long look at the complicated life of George Floyd – Chicago Tribune]
[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-minneapolis-police-autopsy-idUKKBN2383JU
[4] https://archive.vn/lZgec
[5] Picture 1
[6] Picture 2
[7] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/64-americans-oppose-defund-police-movement-key-goals/story?id=71202300
[8] Table 1
[9] Table 2
[10] Table 3
[11] Table 4
[12] Table 5
[13] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/18/us/police-reform-bills.html
[14] https://coloradosun.com/2021/04/01/house-bill-1251-colorado-law-enforcement-use-of-force/
[15] https://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/100000008581271/connecticut-shooting-police.html
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