This is not only about racism, it is also about police brutality. Would the furor die down if only police would kill innocent white people in the same proportion as blacks? It is a shame that more often than not the general problem of police brutality is left out of this discussion. Eric Garner was assaulted and killed because police thought he was selling cigarettes without paying taxes – the very punishment many extremists call for to deal with those who don’t pay taxes. Let’s be clear, one of the reasons Garner was assaulted and killed was because of the threat he posed to tax revenue and it is a very clear example of how regulations are backed by force.
Yet while we are overloaded with numerous inane laws and regulations and perpetual calls for even more laws and more regulations, what do we expect to happen but more absurd brutal deaths at the hands of government agents whose only focus should be protecting individual rights but are instead focused on enforcing arbitrary laws where no rights are violated.
No knock raids. Civil forfeiture. The war on drugs. The militarization of police. Assaulting and killing people for the ‘crimes’ of not paying taxes on cigarettes and jaywalking? This is insane. In Utah, police killed more people than gang members, drug dealers, or child abusers. Police killings were second only to homicide by intimate partners. In fact, statistically, if you interact with the police (at least in Utah) you are just as likely to be killed by them as you are by a random person on the street, and if you are black, the chances are likely even higher. No doubt the majority of police officers are decent people, but your life should always be safer when you interact with police, not more dangerous.
Advocates of civil liberties have been warning about the rise in police brutality for decades, a warning ignored by the right and obfuscated under the veil of racism by the left – and made worse by the perpetually increase of yet more laws and regulations clamored for by both. Many steps could be taken to alleviate this problem, including police cameras and independent review of police killings, but a primary goal needs to be to bring back the proper moral function of police. Police should be, and only should be, agents that protect the rights of individuals (of any race) and not agents whose purpose is to violate those rights.
eternitas 