African Americans have suffered from racial discrimination for many many years, and the feelings of resentment of oppression which have reached boiling point since George Floyd's killing ten days ago, are a function of a variety of causal factors (white flight, poor inner-city schooling, unequal criminal justice and sentencing); but the the most proximate cause for concern must be policing.
While is also true that it it not just African Americans who feel intimidated scared and belittled by the police, it remains the case that interactions between African Americans and the police are more likely to escalate into a violence than between the police and non-URMs. So a good place to start, given the inflection point we seem to be at, is policing.
Defunding police departments, which has a similar ring to it as "Abolish ICE!" is both simplistic, and ultimately politically counter productive. Police departments arguably have two major problems; first it is widely accepted that they are being asked to do more, in terms of scope, than ever before and with insufficient resources or training. Second, and more importantly, they are often steeped in culture with deep roots in white supremacy. Recruiting more African Americans into their ranks won't solve that second problem, because cultures are perpetuated by a critical mass which will mean African Americans will be in a minority in their ranks and any change will be to their manifest function and beliefs, not to their latent functions and beliefs.
But to take money away from police departments without reducing the scope of their responsibilities will exacerbate rather than solve the problem. And while the majority, silent or not, are white supremacist sympathizers or at least blind-eye-turners, the culture of police departments will not change. Karl Weick noted that "organisation don't have cultures - they are cultures which is why they are so difficult to change".
The only way change will happen is if municipalities completely dismantle their police departments, and then rebuild them from scratch, with:
While is also true that it it not just African Americans who feel intimidated scared and belittled by the police, it remains the case that interactions between African Americans and the police are more likely to escalate into a violence than between the police and non-URMs. So a good place to start, given the inflection point we seem to be at, is policing.
Defunding police departments, which has a similar ring to it as "Abolish ICE!" is both simplistic, and ultimately politically counter productive. Police departments arguably have two major problems; first it is widely accepted that they are being asked to do more, in terms of scope, than ever before and with insufficient resources or training. Second, and more importantly, they are often steeped in culture with deep roots in white supremacy. Recruiting more African Americans into their ranks won't solve that second problem, because cultures are perpetuated by a critical mass which will mean African Americans will be in a minority in their ranks and any change will be to their manifest function and beliefs, not to their latent functions and beliefs.
But to take money away from police departments without reducing the scope of their responsibilities will exacerbate rather than solve the problem. And while the majority, silent or not, are white supremacist sympathizers or at least blind-eye-turners, the culture of police departments will not change. Karl Weick noted that "organisation don't have cultures - they are cultures which is why they are so difficult to change".
The only way change will happen is if municipalities completely dismantle their police departments, and then rebuild them from scratch, with:
- different people with no background in policing,
- new management drawn from more progressive thinkers in the ranks of the police
- different procedures,
- new training,
- new accountability systems and measures,
- and new community oversight.
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