thenation | So… now what? Not much, so long as the reverence paid to police
officers lends itself to deference. They are not regarded as citizens
also beholden to the law. They are an armed force charged with
maintenance of a status quo steeped in white supremacy and
anti-blackness. Key to the reign is the suspension of a belief in the
rule of law. Whatever tools they require for to carry out their actual
purpose, the public and the courts are eagerly ready to provide.
So… now what? Body cameras seem like a good idea when we think the
issue is there isn’t enough evidence with which to hold police
accountable. They’re a good idea if we think the issue is
accountability. Other things get tossed around, like diversifying police
forces (the NYPD is among the most diverse in the country). That sounds
like a good idea if we think the problem is sensitivity or cultural
miscommunication. We are thinking wrong.
We keep applying the language and framework of accountability,
diversity and sensitivity to an issue of oppression. We are attempting
to fly an airplane with the keys to a motorcycle. Our tools are woefully
inadequate, and until we are ready to admit to ourselves that the
police are an inherently oppressive force, and then use the language of
anti-oppression and anti-racism in our analysis and solutions, it will
not end today, as Eric Garner had hoped. The dead bodies of black folks
will continue to line our streets and sidewalks, and they will be
treated no better than the roadkill with whom they occupy those spaces.
Last night, at an event addressing racial profiling on the campus of Vassar College,
a student told their administration that putting body cameras on
security guards was like “Band-Aids to a bullet hole.” I was in
attendance and was struck by just how literal that phrasing was. We are
being choked and shot with impunity, and yet all that is being offered
to us in response is a means to relive the experience over and over
again. But we already do.
