'Shielded' author Joanna Schwartz explains why police violence goes unpunished - https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1159278111/police-brutality-shielded-joanna-schwartz
Sadie Peterson Delaney
Tanya Marquette
I think this article and the author miss the point which is racism and classism in this society (not that it is unique)
When she tries to say there are different origins in policing this is a distraction from the racism and classism that underlies
the problem equally throughout the country at any point in its history. What they did it he South was duplicated in all quarters
no matter who the disenfranchised group was. Poor people, people of color, immigrants, native people (both Mexican and Native American)
were seen the same as less than human, less valuable. They all were high on the suspect list and always given harsher treatment and sentences
in courts--if they even made it to the courts.
She also manages to ignore the obvious fact that the courts are controlled by upper class white men throughout our history until very recently when
women, Blacks, Latinos were appointed. However, those people were vetted heavily to ensure they would not do anything that actually changed the
power relationships that always demean disenfranchised people.
And this comes to the point this is how police are supported by the courts as they are the front line that upper class people count on to do their dirty
work of keeping the 'riff raff' under control which always includes terrorizing that community into obedience. That is the real role of policing and we
see even people of color supporting this even when they are the ones being most abused.
As for diversifying the police, we need to see that just as with the courts, women and people of color need to buy into the police culture in order to
be accepted and to survive. Further complicating the situation is that many time such people join the forces to get closer to the white male power
structure identifying with it and sometime trying to outdo them in their brutality and force against people who are of the same disenfranchised group.
She is right that the situation is complicated but not the way she describes. I find this article serves to distract from the real issues at heart and does
nothing to challenge us to think and act more deeply. The Power Structure is the problem and that is what needs to be critiqued and changed. I am
sure many/most of you know this already but it makes we wonder why this article is showcased other than the need to analyze if for how it actually
perpetrates the problem
Tanya
'Shielded' author Joanna Schwartz explains why police violence goes unpunished - https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1159278111/police-brutality-shielded-joanna-schwartz
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