Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and now Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Black men are dying at the hands of an institution that is supposed to protect them: the police. Unsurprisingly, these events have ignited protests across the nation. There are many white Americans who have critiqued the protests and movements, such as Black Lives Matter.
The black community’s rage stems from a long history of oppression and persecution. For the black community, the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers are comparable to lynchings. Between the late 19th to early 20th century, black men were lynched, primarily in the South, for the allegation that they had raped a white woman. Those responsible for the lynching were never brought to justice.
White America needs to understand that the American experience for black people is completely different. As “the other” in the United States, black people are forced to constantly be aware of how they are perceived by the dominant, white society. This means being aware of your speech, your appearance and your interactions with the “white” dominant society’s institutions, such as the police. For instance, a mother whose son is white does not have to teach her son how to properly deal with police in the same way that a mother whose son is black.
The authority and autonomy enjoyed by America’s police explains how some white Americans continue making excuses for the actions of law enforcement. It is unfathomable to them that cops could ever abuse their power of authority. In the community, the police believe they are upholding the law, but this is not the experience of the black community.
There needs to be increased transparency and accountability on the behalf of the police. And on the national level, there needs to be increased oversight of law enforcement by the Justice Department. Since county, city and state police departments are administered differently, reforms need to be implemented on a local level.
Whether on a federal or state level, policing reform has the potential to reach across political party lines. This is an issue that both liberals and libertarians can agree on. For libertarians, the actions of the police is an example of liberty being relinquished from the individual because law enforcement is a civil liberties violation.
The biggest obstacle to passing policing reform legislation is the power that police unions hold. However, it is possible to defeat them, as demonstrated by the policing reform legislation that was recently passed in Maryland.
Enacting legislation that reforms policing policies is perhaps the easier task than improving the relationship between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. In order to tackle these challenges, there will need to be collaboration between policymakers, community leaders and non-profit organizations.
Regardless of color, Americans should be outraged by how black men are being victimized by the police. This is not a problem for the black community to solve on its own. We are all responsible.
Leslie McNamara is a public policy graduate student specializing in health policy. She can be reached at lamcnamar@gmail.com.
