In recent weeks, many thousands of Americans, both Black and white, have rallied together around the message that Black Lives Matter, protesting in hundreds of and . United in collective grief over the many Black Americans who have been killed by police officers sworn to protect them, the protestors have issued a sweeping range of demands, including calls for to redress racial inequalities. These largely have drawn renewed global attention to racial disparities in the U.S.
The protests may potentially lead to considerable changes domestically: the officer who killed George Floyd , as do the other who witnessed Floyd¡¯s killing; many other police officers who used against protestors have been ; across the U.S. are considering reforms aimed at limiting police interactions and reducing their lethality; and many more Americans now the Black Lives Matter movement. This initial flurry of activity in response to the protests is very promising.
As many in the U.S. now realize, though, these positive steps are not enough. The police are not the only actors that engage in discrimination against Blacks. While their acts of discrimination are the most violent and often attract the most attention, they are but one part of a of racism, repression and social control. Indeed, insomuch as police officers come from communities, they are not likely to be separate from or unaffected by the larger systematic racist systems that they inhabit. Since police are armed ¡ª ¡ª and have the legal leeway to ¡°enforce¡± the laws (often as they see fit), they have the potential to engage in the most dangerous types of discrimination.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.