BY: Taiwo Adetiloye
Time and time again, another black male is brutally murdered by a police officer in America. The question that first comes to many people’s minds is, was the murder carried out by law enforcement officers racially motivated?
It is moderate to state that such claims about police brutality among racial minorities cannot be easily discarded in a jiffy due to the fact that history shows a pattern of consistency in the discussion thereof hence, it expatiates on today’s reality of policing that Slave trade, Racism, Jim crow laws, Segregation, and Black advocates (Black Lives Matters) and other minorities civil rights movements demanding for the equal treatments and justices buttress the question regarding the use of excessive force by some law enforcement officers especially in some parts of the world.
These questions cannot be completely wished away since we live in a racially polarized society.
Having written a team research paper at Memorial University in Newfoundland on juxtaposing the difference between Canadian Police and the Nigerian police in a course titled Sociology of Policing and equally took an elective course in History, titled Theme: History of America.
The history course focus on the movie industry in America, and how it sometimes portrayals visible minorities, Hispanics, and Irish as the villain in Hollywood. I end up writing a research paper on the movie titled “Do the Right Thing” by Spike Lee.
In all, it is summarized that there is definitely a connection between policing either in a third world, or otherwise as an instrument set up by the early colonials, used as tools to control, regulate, order, and deter non-conforming aberrant racial or ethnic groups.
The other course, I did, that captivate my imagination was a course on European history, where I learned a lot about the conquest and war among different europian territories, case in point, the French revolution, the fall of the Roman empire, the class struggles among different europian societies, and what Karl Max explained class alienation, class exploitation, the class struggle and relationship between the bourgeoises, and proletariate.
My research background access social sciences, politics, and history makes me wonder why ethnicity and conflict within one’s race or same religious ideologies are not well over flogged in the media compared to inter racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia.
I feel so sad about the black man murdered, George Floyd, and many other ones murdered in such a brutal way in the hands of American cops.
Many other black males in the US have also been killed in non-police racial related incidences as well. Black on black crime is also on the high side in America. I have not commented before on police brutality on black lives murdered because I feel a lot of reaction, commentaries, civil protests are already ongoing on a daily bases.
Secondly, I always do my own findings to get more clarity about the circumstances that trigger the events, and thirdly, most people usually end up in adrenaline rush, which could make one’s sentiment turn to hate speech and crime; hence, Civil protest should be done in an orderly manner by Civil leaders that believe in non-violence, civil protest, and forgiveness. Vandalism during the civil protest, should not be acceptable at all. Destroying and looting innocent people’s properties during civil protest should be highly discouraged.
Situations should be managed without allowing it to degenerates to hate crimes and hate speeches.
In the case of George Floyd, He has been handcuffed and his hands were on his back. His death was horrifying, the man pleaded for his life, he was on his back and he was not fighting back.
No question, the murder of George Floyd include the use of excessive force, I sincerely hope the judicial system will take it full course. However, there is a fine thin line between racism, hate speech, discrimination, etc, and should never be seen from one side.
We should all together condemn the lack of professionalism during arrest, detention, and when force should not be used at all.
The story could be a black cop and a black offender or white cop and white offender or between different races. In any case, we should all stand up for humanity and condemned what is not right and unjust. We should all remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.
I do recognize civil protests such as black life matters, friends and those nonblacks who associate with the movement and I acknowledge various black protests throughout American history. Civil rights movements have come a long way in America. I sincerely commend their efforts, tenacious, and resilience.
For the police officers doing a great job diligently and with human compassion. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated. Especially the community-oriented policing and other forms of policing
The media strives on people’s sentiments and treading news. I feel sometimes the media & social media propagates news on racism and the other aspects of law enforcement. I cannot think about seeing news on social media where caucasian cops murder a caucasian individual while discharging their duties or a black on black crime.
Racism, tribalism, discrimination, and hate crimes are real in every organization, country, and nation. It is just more visible with law enforcement and the criminal justice system in general because they are the first responder and are saddled with the responsibility of keeping the law. Unfortunately, these institutions cannot wish away the unfortunate events, responsibilities, and professionalism associated with discharging their primary assignment.
Every law enforcement got an obligation to constantly train, retrain their employees, and have a proper way to deal with any form of hate crime by enacting laws that encompass reconciliation, ensuring justice is served, issue of public apologies in case of wrongful arrest and forcefully detention when media is involved, introduced compensations to individuals that are terribly treated as a result of false accusation, and apology to the family of the individuals involved.
The police department should constantly ensure police officers are not stressed out, engaged in a lot of overtime, or suffer from any form of stress disorder such as PTSD.
Policing in the US can be stressful since gun violence is widespread across America. More races should be hired for effective policing and to mitigate the possibilities of work burnout.
As long as humans see from the lenses of color, and could not at least pretend to be color blind, racial profiling, ethnicity, and tribalism will not be completely ruled out in every country, race, ethnicity, and across different cultural creeds. Unfortunately, visible minorities and other minority racial groups will still remain grossly affected at the epicenter of victimization and may continue to suffer maltreatment around the globe.
I will drop my pen by adding that “We should be human first in everything we do”
*Taiwo T. Adetiloye can be reached via Twitter: @TAdetiloye
