Does America Desire Equality or Need Reform?
The birth of the American government marked the beginning of a new era, setting the stage for a contemporary future.
However, America's democracy only truly began to flourish in the past century, nurtured by revolutions and social justice movements that paved its creation. In 2020, the entirety of the United States experienced the force of these revolutions first hand, pushed by the racial inequality of police systems.
The man at the forefront of the modern movement for racial equality was George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who was murdered by a white police officer named Derek Chauvin.Floyd was initially arrested on the basis of using a counterfeit $20 bill. However, the situation quickly escalated into violence, with Floyd being forced to the ground by Chauvin. After the encounter, Floyd was pronounced dead. Even though the interaction between Floyd and Chauvin was captured on video and gained widespread attention as it took over social media, this was merely the breaking point for decades of racism. . It sparked outrage among both Black and non-Black people alike, with riots erupting in cities across America as more stories of police brutality came to light. Initially, people demanded that Derek Chauvin be fired and convicted of his crime, but their calls for justice soon intensified into a broader demand for systemic reform.
Chauvin was eventually found guilty by a 12-member jury on charges of murder, becoming the first white police officer in Minnesota convicted for the murder of a Black person. While America was successful in their efforts to punish Chauvin, Minnesota's track record for police officer convictions raised a critical question: Did public pressure solve the problem, or was Derek Chauvin and George Floyd's case just a rare exception? To critically answer this question, it is important to acknowledge that George Floyd wasn’t the only black person to receive this treatment. Statistics detailing the harms of law enforcement and mass incarceration explicate this. Although Black people comprise only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they face 21 percent of police contact, make up 33 percent of the incarcerated population, and are over three times more likely to be killed by the police than their white counterparts. It’s clear that while public pressure was able to serve justice once, it is ultimately up to lawmakers to finish the job on their end. States were the first to step forward with statewide policies to mitigate the negative impacts of their police forces, with cities and counties restructuring how local budgets and law enforcement were deployed in regards to public safety. For example: Austin, Los Angeles, and at least 12 other cities pledged to cut police budgets with plans to reinvest in community programs such as supportive housing, violence prevention, and other services. Further, San Francisco launched crisis response teams to respond to behavioral health calls in lieu of police, and Berkeley voted to limit law enforcement involvement in low-level traffic stops. Minneapolis and other cities made commitments to end or reduce police presence in schools. New York City, home to the nation’s largest police force, just became the first municipality to end qualified immunity for officers (joining Colorado in doing so).
Unfortunately, some local governments haven’t followed through with their promises: Minneapolis never disbanded its police department, instead spending $6.4 million to recruit more officers. However, the first major nationwide policy directly addressing racial profiling within the police force wasn’t introduced until the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. The act would’ve limited qualified immunity, granted power to the Department of Justice to conduct investigations, and created a national registry to compile data on officer misconduct. While it passed through the House of Representatives, the bill was blocked at the senate, ultimately ruled out by a republican majority senate. The Legal Defense Fund (the nation’s first human rights law organization), was the first to respond to this by stating that “despite the refusal of too many members of Congress to confront the truths of our current system of policing,” they would still lean into statewide efforts to curb police brutality, along with other nonprofits.
The long standing movement for racial equality, reignited by the death of George Floyd, has brought significant attention to the systemic issues within American policing. While some progress has been made through local and state reforms, the failure of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to pass in the Senate exacerbates the challenges that remain.
However, despite these setbacks, advocacy groups and committed communities continue to push for meaningful change, striving to transform the promise of justice and equality into a reality for all.
Sources:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1280
