Police brutality
In the United States, only a small fraction of the over 17,000 law enforcement agencies actually track officers misconduct reports. The reason for this is unknown, but it may not be being tracked because it is not seen as misconduct. If an officer is cleared of charges and honored for the actions, even if it costs someone their life, then any initial reports will not be part of the tracking mechanism.
A vast majority of Americans support the thin blue line. We all want good officers to succeed. The sacrifices which law enforcement officials make on our behalf are often overlooked and under-appreciated. Police brutality statistics should not exist, but they do because a small minority of officers abuse their privilege.
Likely because of the heightened public awareness of racism against black Americans thanks to BLM, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson felt compelled to address broader issues of inequity in the wake of Stockley’s acquittal. Krewson, a white mayor of a city that is 49 percent African-American, said: “What we are seeing and feeling is not only about this case. What we have is a legacy of policies that have disproportionately impacted people along racial and economic lines.” She added, “This is institutional racism.”
The term “institutional racism” was coined by Black Panther leaders Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in their 1967 book “Black Power.” We would be hard-pressed to hear a high-level city official use such a term out loud before BLM came to prominence, especially from one as pro-police as Mayor Krewson.
Police seem to think they have the right to mistreat, brutalize and even kill the very people they are meant to serve. But with every life taken, law enforcement is exposed bit by bit for being the source of violence rather than its remedy. Instead of “protecting and serving,” as police slogans often declare, far too many officers and their allies have attacked and killed. Members of the criminal justice system are willing participants in this process, refusing time after time to punish murderous cops and give justice to victims and their families. As Smith’s mother lamented after Stockley’s acquittal: “The judge made the wrong decision. No one speaks for Anthony but my family. I have no justice. I can never be at peace.”
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