By It is 5 AM as the day breaks. The awakening sun brings a mist full smell that convey memories of a childhood remembered. The smell is a mixture of pepper spray and tear gas that goes back to 1992. Then one ask’s, who was it today? Rodney King, Eric Gardner, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd.
Police brutality has been at the center of the protest that have erupted throughout the nation and the world. There have been over 50 protesters arrested in Washington, D.C. – All this for Donald Trump to take a picture. The protest started after the inhumane death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Arbery was shot to death while jogging by a Gregory McMichael, a former Investigator with the Brunswick Judicial Circuit Court District Attorney’s Office, and his son Travis. No one took any action on this murder until the video of Arbery’s death was recorded and uploaded online. The protest gained steam after George Floyd was murdered by Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin placed his knee on Floyds neck for nine seconds while making an arrest.
These events have been incendiary at the start of a new century. Slavery has ended 155 years ago, and segregation ended 60 years ago – yet it continues today.
One question that arose during this time is the quality of the training for Law Enforcement. They spend most of the time learning to deescalate situations, yet they do not know how to use it. At the same time, the people are questioning the authority of law enforcement and the role of the government intervening in the private lives of citizens.
The events at that dawn of a new century have caused the American people to lose trust in the Government. A message that has spread throughout the world. On Sunday, 7 June 2020 protestors took down the statute of Edward Colston, a Slave Trader from Bristol. The protesters have been saying that the United Kingdom is not innocent in this battle. Racism is not isolated to the United States. The United Kingdom has a history of racism against the Jewish, Asian, and Irish population. As of this day, Queen Elizabeth II has yet to address racism in the Kingdom. The only one from the Royal Family to say anything is Meghan Markle, who is married to Prince Harry the grandson to the Queen. A surprise to none that the Queen has yet to speak as she stayed silent when the British media news outlets scrutinized Markle. The media news outlets had a double standard when covering Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle giving Kate a favorable view compared to Meghan.
Local governments have started to act like a tyrannical government. This can be seen in the results of the autopsy of George Floyd. The county coroner ruled the death a Homicide by Heart Attack, however the independent autopsy ruled the death a homicide due to asphyxiation. The fact that one autopsy came to one conclusion and another came to a different conclusion is troubling but not outside of the norm, unfortunately said Christian Barrett, a veteran of the US Marine Corps.
Christian, the 38-year-old father of five has grew up in Southern California and has seen the brutality firsthand. “I think that too often law enforcement treats their job as though they are going into combat situation and that their fellow citizens are the enemy.” Stating that this is not always the case, however it is happing more often.
A discussion is taking place to determine what law enforcement reforms need to happen. There are four main reforms that the people are focusing: hold officers accountable for their actions; Liability Insurance for the officers; repeal Malum Phrohibitum offenses; and reduce the power of the police unions. Holding officers accountable and making them carry liability insurance is currently at the top of the list. In order to enact real change, the paradigm of what it means to be a law enforcement officer needs to shift said Barrett. Year after year, local governments use tax dollars to pay settlements against use of force lawsuits. Leaving the law enforcement budgets and officer’s pension intact and untouched. Holding officers accountable will mean that those officers purchase insurance for such issues or the settlements be paid from their pensions.
We as a species do not need laws as we are tribal, said Mario Guillen, a resident of Los Angeles, California. Malum Phrohibitum refers to laws that say something is wrong because we say it is wrong. Which differs from moral laws that refer to conduct that is evil in and of itself, such as murder. Examples of Phrohibitum laws are operating a business without a license, illegal hunting, trespassing, and resisting arrest. Laws are created to control those who do not have God in their hearts, continued Guillen. There are those that take advantage of others and they are the reason laws are created.
Racism and police brutality go together as history has yet to heal. An individual lives by the morals and values they are taught at a young age. Those values come from their parents, schools, and places of worship. Growing up in an area like South Central Los Angeles, one is less likely to become a law enforcement officer compared to one who was raised in Orange County, California. This is because of the socioeconomic status of the areas. Mankind has always been tribal feeling more comfortable with the people that they know, says Barrett. We are all part of a single tribe that can benefit from everyone’s positive ideas and attributes if we allow ourselves to be open to ideas or opinions that may be foreign to how we grew up, Barrett continues.
Until we as a people can get to that point however, I will say it loud that my family’s lives matter, black lives matter, and protecting individual liberties matter, said Barrett.
Gillybert 