But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24
A young Black man is brutally murdered by people ostensibly hired to protect him. Community and national leaders send their thoughts and prayers. Is that enough? Delving into why this unarmed 29-year-old skateboarding, Fed-Ex working, father of a 4-year-old was fatally beaten, kicked, and tasered by Memphis police officers is revealing.
I write this on the day after Tyre Nichols’ funeral and a week after body cam video of the horrific and senseless beating by police officers was released. I can’t imagine what his family, friends, and co-workers are experiencing right now and how their hearts must be broken.
Killings by police officers happen at least 1,000 times per year in the US. An average of three people per day are murdered by police. In 2022, of the 1,048 people killed by police, 313 were Black, 502 were white, 17 were Native Americans, and 216 were Hispanics. While there are more white people killed by police than Black people, the rate at which Black people are killed is more than double that of white people (37 per million Black people vs 15 per million white people). The race of the officers who instigate these killings makes no difference.
Almost half of all Americans believe that these are random events or that these statistics are the result of a handful of bad actors. While there are some police officers who genuinely care for the communities in which they serve, these murders are the direct result of a systemic problem: an institution that rewards militant warriors, that trains police officers to exert power and brute force, and that uses military-grade weapons from the US armed forces. These are not one-off killings. This is not the result of the victims’ crimes or missteps. This is a system of police brutality.
Police brutality impacts all of us, directly and indirectly by killing people and by draining public funds. With its roots in racism, the many implications today disproportionately affect non-white people.
What is police brutality, how did it start, and how has this system of policing evolved to the point where many Americans, including whites, no longer trust the police with their protection? Police brutality can be defined as deadly or excessive physical force that is unnecessary in providing safety.
To trace the roots of the modern-day police department, we have to go back in history to colonial America. In the North, as early as 1636, night watchmen patrolled communities to guard against gambling and prostitution. By 1838, port cities like Boston had outgrown the use of night watchmen and had established their own police departments as a way of protecting their cargo at the docks. By the late 1880’s, driven by the influx of European immigrants (often seen as threatening to the existing population), all major US cities in the North had police departments. The first large-scale use of police brutality occurred during various labor strikes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to “control” these workers. The police were not held accountable.
Meanwhile, in the South, police departments evolved differently. In 1704, white slaveholders in the Carolinas created the first slave patrols to ensure slaves did not revolt, to confiscate any weapons possessed by slaves, and to return runaway slaves to their masters. The use of brutal force was common and encouraged. After the 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, slave patrols morphed into militia-style groups to enforce Black Codes which were laws during Reconstruction that restricted former slaves' civil rights, such as the right to work and the right to vote. By the 1900’s, municipalities had created police departments to enforce Jim Crow laws that had replaced Black Codes. Civil rights protests in the 1960’s against inequality and Jim Crow laws were met with excessive force by police.
Throughout this long history, the institution of slavery, the fear of immigrants, and the protests for civil rights have been threaded together with police brutality into a fabric of systemic racism and social injustice. History shows us that whenever Black people assert their civil rights, they are met with police violence. When the psyches of white people are embedded with the notion that Black people need surveillance for suspicious activities and that white people need to police them, police brutality will continue. Perhaps hearts and minds need to change as well as systems.
Policing often emphasizes control rather than safety and police brutality dehumanizes Black and brown people by not seeing them as fully human or created in the image of God. Systemic racism and inequality must be addressed for police brutality to end and officers must be held accountable for their actions. No one is above the law. Until then, “law and order” is a travesty of justice.
We need programs that will uphold the dignity of all people while creating public safety and justice. Just as hospitals are not the only solution to public health, police are not the only solution to public safety. There are many possible solutions. Some have already been tried and proven to be beneficial to compliment, not compete, with police work.
Only about 1% of all 911 emergency calls are actually violent emergencies where police officers need to respond. Some solutions involve rerouting nonviolent emergencies to mental health workers to reduce the amount of time police officers spend dealing with problems they were never meant to solve. This approach saves lives as well as public funds.
Crime prevention is another approach to public safety. Programs that provide addiction treatment and teach violence prevention can prevent crimes from happening. One interesting idea that has been proven to reduce gun violence is to provide green spaces in high-crime neighborhoods by cleaning up vacant lots and abandoned buildings. There are many other ideas that can work to reduce crime and can cost less than traditional policing.
Police reform is difficult because each state has its own laws and budget regarding policing. With laws often being too vague and with the shield of “qualified immunity”, police officers are not held accountable. Powerful police unions are adept at protecting their members from accountability, particularly in preventing them from being fired. When criminal charges fail, victims’ families often sue the police department involved. When they win, the settlement costs are borne by taxpayers.
If state governments and municipalities could rethink traditional policing, they could create public safety programs that would save lives and lower costs to taxpayers. Because there is no one-size-fits-all program, each community should tailor programs to fit their unique challenges.
What can we as ordinary citizens do? We can call or write our representatives in Congress to encourage them to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act*. We can contact our state legislators and local leaders to push for change. We can also give to organizations like the NAACP that are in the fight to protect people from police brutality.
The horrendous murder of Tyre Nichols is unimaginable. How can we reimagine a better way to justly maintain order in our society while respecting human life? Will we dare to create a new system of public safety that provides various resources to address both violent and nonviolent emergencies? Can we imagine a better world where people are safe in their communities? I think it’s possible. But it requires more than thoughts and prayers.
Lord, through Your prophet Amos, You condemn our worship of You as hollow when we ignore the systems of oppression and injustice in our midst. Forgive me when I fail to see that Your desire for justice is like a fast-flowing river, a flash flood, that will overtake these brutal systems and destroy them. Help me work with You in dismantling these oppressive systems and in creating safer communities that respect all human life. Amen.
** Under the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, most no-knock warrants and the use of choke holds would be prohibited. Police officers would be held accountable with less or limited qualified immunity. The transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments would be limited. Training would be required regarding what to do when other officers use excessive force. Federal officers would be required to wear body cameras. A national registry would be created for complaints against officers. As an incentive, noncompliance by states would reduce their federal funding. While this is not comprehensive enough, it is a good first step.
Note: Solutions to public safety recognize that crime is linked to both poverty and inequality. Addressing these underlying causes of crime are needed as well but are beyond the scope of this blog post.
Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia.
MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH. Check out https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ and https://www.pbs.org/show/womens-history-month/ .
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.
Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).
Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice. Click here to learn more.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Some of the many waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia:
A young Black man is brutally murdered by people ostensibly hired to protect him. Community and national leaders send their thoughts and prayers. Is that enough? Delving into why this unarmed 29-year-old skateboarding, Fed-Ex working, father of a 4-year-old was fatally beaten, kicked, and tasered by Memphis police officers is revealing.
I write this on the day after Tyre Nichols’ funeral and a week after body cam video of the horrific and senseless beating by police officers was released. I can’t imagine what his family, friends, and co-workers are experiencing right now and how their hearts must be broken.
Killings by police officers happen at least 1,000 times per year in the US. An average of three people per day are murdered by police. In 2022, of the 1,048 people killed by police, 313 were Black, 502 were white, 17 were Native Americans, and 216 were Hispanics. While there are more white people killed by police than Black people, the rate at which Black people are killed is more than double that of white people (37 per million Black people vs 15 per million white people). The race of the officers who instigate these killings makes no difference.
Almost half of all Americans believe that these are random events or that these statistics are the result of a handful of bad actors. While there are some police officers who genuinely care for the communities in which they serve, these murders are the direct result of a systemic problem: an institution that rewards militant warriors, that trains police officers to exert power and brute force, and that uses military-grade weapons from the US armed forces. These are not one-off killings. This is not the result of the victims’ crimes or missteps. This is a system of police brutality.
Police brutality impacts all of us, directly and indirectly by killing people and by draining public funds. With its roots in racism, the many implications today disproportionately affect non-white people.
What is police brutality, how did it start, and how has this system of policing evolved to the point where many Americans, including whites, no longer trust the police with their protection? Police brutality can be defined as deadly or excessive physical force that is unnecessary in providing safety.
To trace the roots of the modern-day police department, we have to go back in history to colonial America. In the North, as early as 1636, night watchmen patrolled communities to guard against gambling and prostitution. By 1838, port cities like Boston had outgrown the use of night watchmen and had established their own police departments as a way of protecting their cargo at the docks. By the late 1880’s, driven by the influx of European immigrants (often seen as threatening to the existing population), all major US cities in the North had police departments. The first large-scale use of police brutality occurred during various labor strikes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to “control” these workers. The police were not held accountable.
Meanwhile, in the South, police departments evolved differently. In 1704, white slaveholders in the Carolinas created the first slave patrols to ensure slaves did not revolt, to confiscate any weapons possessed by slaves, and to return runaway slaves to their masters. The use of brutal force was common and encouraged. After the 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, slave patrols morphed into militia-style groups to enforce Black Codes which were laws during Reconstruction that restricted former slaves' civil rights, such as the right to work and the right to vote. By the 1900’s, municipalities had created police departments to enforce Jim Crow laws that had replaced Black Codes. Civil rights protests in the 1960’s against inequality and Jim Crow laws were met with excessive force by police.
Throughout this long history, the institution of slavery, the fear of immigrants, and the protests for civil rights have been threaded together with police brutality into a fabric of systemic racism and social injustice. History shows us that whenever Black people assert their civil rights, they are met with police violence. When the psyches of white people are embedded with the notion that Black people need surveillance for suspicious activities and that white people need to police them, police brutality will continue. Perhaps hearts and minds need to change as well as systems.
Policing often emphasizes control rather than safety and police brutality dehumanizes Black and brown people by not seeing them as fully human or created in the image of God. Systemic racism and inequality must be addressed for police brutality to end and officers must be held accountable for their actions. No one is above the law. Until then, “law and order” is a travesty of justice.
We need programs that will uphold the dignity of all people while creating public safety and justice. Just as hospitals are not the only solution to public health, police are not the only solution to public safety. There are many possible solutions. Some have already been tried and proven to be beneficial to compliment, not compete, with police work.
Only about 1% of all 911 emergency calls are actually violent emergencies where police officers need to respond. Some solutions involve rerouting nonviolent emergencies to mental health workers to reduce the amount of time police officers spend dealing with problems they were never meant to solve. This approach saves lives as well as public funds.
Crime prevention is another approach to public safety. Programs that provide addiction treatment and teach violence prevention can prevent crimes from happening. One interesting idea that has been proven to reduce gun violence is to provide green spaces in high-crime neighborhoods by cleaning up vacant lots and abandoned buildings. There are many other ideas that can work to reduce crime and can cost less than traditional policing.
Police reform is difficult because each state has its own laws and budget regarding policing. With laws often being too vague and with the shield of “qualified immunity”, police officers are not held accountable. Powerful police unions are adept at protecting their members from accountability, particularly in preventing them from being fired. When criminal charges fail, victims’ families often sue the police department involved. When they win, the settlement costs are borne by taxpayers.
If state governments and municipalities could rethink traditional policing, they could create public safety programs that would save lives and lower costs to taxpayers. Because there is no one-size-fits-all program, each community should tailor programs to fit their unique challenges.
What can we as ordinary citizens do? We can call or write our representatives in Congress to encourage them to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act*. We can contact our state legislators and local leaders to push for change. We can also give to organizations like the NAACP that are in the fight to protect people from police brutality.
The horrendous murder of Tyre Nichols is unimaginable. How can we reimagine a better way to justly maintain order in our society while respecting human life? Will we dare to create a new system of public safety that provides various resources to address both violent and nonviolent emergencies? Can we imagine a better world where people are safe in their communities? I think it’s possible. But it requires more than thoughts and prayers.
Lord, through Your prophet Amos, You condemn our worship of You as hollow when we ignore the systems of oppression and injustice in our midst. Forgive me when I fail to see that Your desire for justice is like a fast-flowing river, a flash flood, that will overtake these brutal systems and destroy them. Help me work with You in dismantling these oppressive systems and in creating safer communities that respect all human life. Amen.
** Under the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, most no-knock warrants and the use of choke holds would be prohibited. Police officers would be held accountable with less or limited qualified immunity. The transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments would be limited. Training would be required regarding what to do when other officers use excessive force. Federal officers would be required to wear body cameras. A national registry would be created for complaints against officers. As an incentive, noncompliance by states would reduce their federal funding. While this is not comprehensive enough, it is a good first step.
Note: Solutions to public safety recognize that crime is linked to both poverty and inequality. Addressing these underlying causes of crime are needed as well but are beyond the scope of this blog post.
Text and photographs copyright © 2023 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Lead photo of waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia.
MARCH IS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH. Check out https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ and https://www.pbs.org/show/womens-history-month/ .
Not a subscriber to the monthly blog posts? Click here to subscribe.
A NOTE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Jesus says the greatest commandments are to love God and to love people (Matthew 22:37-40). The Christian faith boils down to these two precepts.
Social justice puts that love into action by helping individuals who are oppressed, mistreated, or suffering, and by pursuing ways to dismantle systems of oppression. How we treat others, particularly those less powerful in society than ourselves, matters (Matthew 25:31-46).
Racial justice is one aspect of social justice. Check out my web page on “Justice Matters” to find resources and to connect with organizations engaging in the cause of racial justice. Click here to learn more.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Some of the many waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia:
Limestone cliffs reflect in a lake at Plitvice Lakes National Park:
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