'The police are not the issue!': The police should not be blamed for the problems of a racialized society
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American political institutions are responsible for police racism
The actions of the police are shaped by politicians and lawmakers. For decades, they have been directed to deliberately undermine black communities. Proponents point to Nixon's War on Drugs, which was later confirmed to have been a policy crafted to victimise blacks. This tradition has sustained throughout successive governments. As New York Times opinion writer Jamelle Bouie states, "Trump explicitly rejects the legitimacy of nonwhites as political actors, having launched his political career on the need for more and greater racial control of Muslims and Hispanic immigrants". The issue is not the police - it is with the racism embedded within our political institutions. And those who lead them. That is where we should be focusing our attention. Proponents include USA Today reporter Wenei Philimon.
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The Argument
The role of police officers is to enforce laws; they are not responsible for making them, nor are they responsible for carrying out judgment or sentencing in crimes. Some of the strongest policies that have targeted racial groups, like Jim Crow laws and the War on Drugs, were created and passed by elected politicians. These laws allowed for marijuana possession to be classified as a felony, and black communities have been affected more than white communities, despite nearly equal rates of marijuana usage.[1]
The American political trope of being “tough on crime” has been used as a guise to pass ever-stricter laws that target black and minority communities in order to allegedly protect Americans from “chaos” and criminality.[2] American political parties have continued to create policies and laws that would undermine minority communities. The police force agrees to uphold the law, and the lack of political leadership to smooth over racial tensions is not only leaving police in the line of fire unnecessarily but also preventing them from doing their jobs.[3]
Counter arguments
Police officers are individuals with free will, and there have been many documented incidents of excessive force utilized by police that far exceeded the necessary action required for an arrest. Stop-and-frisk laws implemented in NYC showed that while the law was supposed to apply to all, over 80% of those stopped were African American or Latino; stops that were carried out at the discretion of the police.[4]There is ample evidence to show police acting outside of what is considered necessary for the enforcement of established laws and benefitting from policies that refuse to prosecute them for law violations.[5]
Proponents
Premises
Rejecting the premises
References
- https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2020/06/23/marijuanas-racist-history-shows-the-need-for-comprehensive-drug-reform/
- https://www.politicalresearch.org/2004/12/01/crime-and-political-ideology
- https://www.foxnews.com/media/nypd-union-attack-cops-riots-police-not-allowed-do-jobs
- https://www.msnbc.com/the-cycle/stop-and-frisk-racist-and-ineffective
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/police-officers-convicted-fatal-shootings-are-exception-not-rule-n982741