As many of you may be aware, there has been a landslide of protests nationwide in response to the police brutality and the recent deaths of black Americans such as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. During week 3 of my diary of systemic injustices I wrote about the Breonna Taylor case and felt this showcase would be a perfect opportunity for me to dive deeper into police brutality and how it relates to the Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

In his letter, King mentions several times the severe acts of police brutality that the African American community faced as a result of racism. He described the hardships of dealing with police brutality as having constantly seen “hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity (pg 2).” He later addresses the white religious leaders’ (for whom the letter is directed to) appraisal of the Birmingham police as they believed they were “preventing violence” and keeping “order.” He then finishes his statement on police brutality by questioning their appraisal of the Birmingham police stating, “I don’t believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry violent dogs literally biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I don’t believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you would watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you would see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys, if you would observe them, as they did on two occasions, refusing to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I’m sorry that I can’t join you in your praise for the police department (pg 5).”

It seems to me that what he is discussing in this letter is the current state of police brutality in present-day America, nearly 60 years after this letter was written. As he mentioned above, we have seen many acts of violence carried out towards black Americans by white police officers to the extent in which it requires nationwide protests to even have a shot at justice for the victims. The victims being George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown Jr, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tamir Rice just to name a few. Now I know what many of you are thinking. Not all police officers are bad, and to that statement, I say that you are correct. However, I do not feel that I can praise the system of policing in America overall.

As MLK stated above it is very hard to commend a system that is founded upon the dehumanization of blacks, racial profiling, and mass incarceration. A system in which for 60 years people of color have been the targets of over-policing, unjust laws, and racial profiling. A system in which peaceful protestors, congresswoman, and activists are tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed and shot at for daring to protest a system of racial injustice. A system in which it requires tens of millions to protest and yet there has been no real justice served yet for George Floyd or Breonna Taylor. There is a massive problem with this system and it needs to be completely overhauled.

With that being said, the question I think we all are left with is this. What will it take for this system to finally value black lives? How can we achieve true racial justice in a system that is founded upon institutional and systematic racism?

Some interesting/helpful articles that I feel that may help with this discussion are listed below.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/us/blm-protests-peaceful-report-trnd/index.html

Report finds that nearly 93% of all protests regarding police brutality were peaceful this past summer. https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/05/us-rep-joyce-beatty-other-politicians-pepper-sprayed-by-columbus-police-during-protest.html

https://www.thelantern.com/2020/06/lantern-journalists-targeted-by-police-pepper-sprayed/

African American congresswoman Joyce Beatty and Lantern reporters were also targeted by police officers.

https://apnews.com/article/police-thomas-lane-trials-minneapolis-crime-1e0d9bcb6e751c31c8de0794434c5730

Officers charged with Floyd’s death were released after a $1 million bond.

https://www.splcenter.org/news/2018/09/18/splc-report-racial-profiling-law-enforcement-widespread-across-louisiana

The article goes into depth about racial profiling in Louisiana.

This week’s readings by Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis focus on the history of systematic injustices and civil rights. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King brings attention to the several major racial injustices in the African American community faces, one of which is causing massive outrage across the country to this day, with that injustice being police brutality. For the past couple of months, thousands of protests have taken place nationwide in response to the recent and tragic killings of black individuals by police officers. Along with these protests has entered the very controversial debate/movement of defunding the police.

At first, I, along with many others, was a bit confused behind what this idea of defunding the police meant. Does defunding the police mean abolishing law enforcement entirely? Does it mean creating an anarchist state? Opponents of the movement for defunding the police will most likely argue that the answer to these questions is yes and seem to fear that defunding the police will result in a catastrophic increase in crime. However, from my research, the answer seems to suggest otherwise. Los Angeles actually became one of the first major cities to do this. In August, several news organizations reported that Los Angeles would cut funds for the LAPD by nearly $150 billion dollars. That may seem like a massive cut, however, it’s hardly a dent. According to the Los Angeles Times, the original proposed budget for the LAPD accounted for 53.8% of the city’s annual budget. After the $150 billion cuts, the LAPD budget still accounted for a whopping 51.1% of the proposed annual budget.

It seems to me that defunding the police is rather a call for racial justice and to bring attention to the large amounts of funds the police force receives compared to other social programs such as education, healthcare, and housing. The argument for defunding the police seems to lie in this idea of not necessarily abolishing law enforcement, but rather to reallocate funds from the police force to social programs and underfunded minority communities. Personally, I support the movement of defunding the police. After all, it does seem a bit crazy that one city has a police budget that is approximately ⅛ of Canada’s entire military budget. I feel that reallocating these funds to underfunded communities and social programs is a much more effective way of using these funds.

References

King, Martin L. Letter from the Birmingham Jail. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1994.

Ray, Rashawn. “What Does ‘Defund the Police’ Mean and Does It Have Merit?” Brookings, 19 June 2020, www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/06/19/what-does-defund-the-police-mean-and-does-it-have-merit.

United States, Congress, National Defence. Defence Budget, Government of Canada. 03 April. 2020, https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/reports-publications/transition-materials/defence-101/2020/03/defence-101/defence-budget.html

Zahniser, David, et al. “Defund the LAPD? At This Pace, It Would Take 20 Years to Hit Black Lives Matter’s Goal .” Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2020, www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-11/defund-lapd-la-budget-spending-priorities.