"No Justice, No Peace, We At War With The Law"
“Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses”; one of the most iconic lyrics ever spoken into existence by the politically-charged band Rage Against The Machine. In its simplest form, these lyrics represent a distrust with law enforcement - specifically relating to police brutality and systemic racism. “Another body laying on the floor now / Tell everybody they better take their tone out / When talking about it, and everything they saw / No justice, no peace, we at war with the law”; 27 years later, rapcore group Fever 333 vocalize that same distrust with law enforcement regarding abuse of power and systemic racism. “Look what we’ve done / We’ve created a fate / That we will never outrun / Time to change the path / Or be forced to forever live / With what can never be undone”; recognizing a foundational issue exists, Stick To Your Guns asks if we as a society will take it upon ourselves to address these issues, and make a change, while we still can.
We’ve all heard the words, we’ve screamed them at the top of our lungs in the pit, but do we truly understand their meaning? Countless bands in the scene have been begging for a change when it comes to law enforcement and the criminal justice system, but have we really heard them? With the rest of this article, I will actively challenge readers to understand why these bands have placed this message at the center of their platform and what we as a society can do to address the issue.
To discuss this topic, we must first admit an issue exists. The mistreatment of minorities - particularly Black people - by law enforcement has been at the center of headline news for weeks now, but there are centuries of mistreatment that do not make it into the mainstream media. Recent evidence shows law enforcement are 7 times more likely to use force against Black people than white people and Black men are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police officers than white men. As of 2018, 2.2 million people were incarcerated in the United States, of which, Black and Latinx peoples made up 60% of the population, even though they only represent 30% of the general population. To expand further, Black men are incarcerated at a rate 6 times higher than white men. A fundamental bias exists in the way minorities and white people are treated by law enforcement, which translates into minorities being incarcerated at much higher rates.
These racial injustices extend beyond these statistics, even into the way most of society views law enforcement. The majority of both Black (84%) and white (63%) US citizens acknowledge Black people are treated unfairly by law enforcement, which extends to the criminal justice system as a whole. US citizens openly admit there are fundamental issues in the way minorities are treated, yet very little has been done to remedy the situation.
To understand why these differences exist, we must understand the origin of law enforcement and their current role in society - I assure you, it’s not to “protect and serve”. In the US, the origins of law enforcement date back to their role in “slave patrolling”; their main role was to chase down slaves that had escaped capture. Law enforcement were founded on racist ideologies, which continue to manifest in the unjust treatment of minorities today. These issues continue to plague society, despite endless calls for change over the years. But if most people acknowledge an abuse of power by law enforcement with racial biases exists, why haven’t we seen a change?
It is because the current criminal justice system is designed to be unjust; it is a conscious decision to maintain a divide between the ruling class and the working class in the name of a capitalist society. Over the past few weeks, I have seen many people opposing the Black Lives Matter protests because it is causing a divide between law enforcement and the people, but once you take a step back and realize that the function of law enforcement is to maintain that divide, we can better understand the steps that need to occur to truly change the system.
While this can be a difficult idea to wrap your head around, I encourage you to look at the way the President of the United States has responded to recent protests. On May 1st, Donald Trump responded to a majority white crowd - armed with loaded assault rifles nonetheless - protesting the COVID-19 restrictions by saying “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.” He was encouraging the Governor of Michigan to hear the people, listen to what they wanted, because they’re good people. On May 29th, Donald Trump responded to the Black Lives Matter protests by saying “....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. [...] Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He completely disregards the message of the Black Lives Matter movement, and insists that if these protests continue, military action will be engaged. Where is the encouragement to hear the people, listen to what they wanted, because they’re good people?
These disproportionate responses are a construct to suppress the message of the movement, as it directly affects Black people. This should open your eyes to the fact that they are terrified that the oppressed will finally rise up, use their voices to bring about significant change, and challenge the oppressors foundational way of life. Law enforcement is the line of pawns on a chess board, blindly protecting their king. But in this case, they’re fully equipped with riot gear and tear gas to suppress the voices of the opposition.
It should be clear by this point that changes need to be made to the current criminal justice system; however, we cannot simply “fix” the current system, we need to completely tear it down and start fresh. Put forth by Hampton Think, “police brutality” is not the issue at hand, it is the existence of an inherently flawed system. By placing the focus on police brutality, it opens the door for a discussion on “reforming” aspects of the system, but we need to abolish the system itself. This “abolitionist” mindset allows one to acknowledge that “not all police are killers”, but they are all guilty of protecting a system that actively maintains systemic racism and classism, among other institutional injustices.
With that being said, we can chant “defund the police” all day long, but we need a clear plan of action for how to bring about this change or it will never happen. Grassroots Law Project (GLP) has provided a framework for defunding the police and redirecting those funds towards communities in need. Per GLP, the US spends a whopping $200 billion on policing and mass incarceration per year. On a smaller scale, the LAPD consumes 53% of LA’s general fund, which is irresponsible to say the least. If the majority of this money was invested back into underfunded communities, it would allow more funding to go towards social workers, recreational facilities, youth and support groups, and rehabilitation centres - which can help keep people out of prison in the first place.
It is well accepted that poverty and a lack of education correlate with increased crime rates. Defunding the police will allow communities to invest in proper educational opportunities, providing people a chance to gain well-paying jobs - an availability of which can also come from re-investing in the community - and climb out of poverty. With this strategy, it is less likely that people will turn to crime as their only option for survival, reducing the need for police presence and mass-incarceration-associated expenses.
Throughout my research for this article, it is abundantly clear that police are not trained well enough to deal with many of the situations they face. In 2016, CNN reported it’s less of a time investment to become a police officer than many other, less authoritative and dangerous, jobs across the US - including a barber (620 hours for police officer versus 1528 hours for a barber in North Carolina), licensed cosmetologist (664 hours for police officer versus 1600 hours for licensed cosmetologist in California), and several other examples. By defunding the currently under-trained - yet somehow over-funded - law enforcement, we can redistribute some of their roles to those who would be better equipped for handling them. This is especially true when it comes to situations of mental distress. Right now, 911 is often the service of choice for calls such as this, but if we were to redistribute this role to professionally trained social workers or licensed physicians that are unarmed, there is less of a chance that the situation would escalate to violence.
Another major concern that needs to be addressed is that law enforcement needs to be held accountable for their actions. We need a system in place to track misconduct, investigate the nature of the misconduct, and adequately deal with it. With regards to the unjust death of George Floyd, the officer charged with murder had at least 17 prior complaints about misconduct - that were reported anyways. How was this man still able to continue his job of “protecting and serving” if he has shown an established pattern of abusing his power? It is on every captain, chief, and judge that let his actions persist. We cannot ignore the system that allowed a person with this record to continue to hold a gun and a badge. It’s not right, and it should have been dealt with the first time a misconduct was reported.
“No justice, no peace, we at war with the law.” Do you understand the message now? “Time to change the path / Or be forced to forever live / With what can never be undone.” Will you take it upon yourself to address this issue and fight for change?
We have started to see these actions take shape in Minnesota, as they have pledged their intentions to dismantle policing and build a new system that will actually keep the community safe. Abolishing the police is not as far-fetched an idea as one may think, and is within the realm of possibility - it is happening before our eyes. We have their attention, now keep it. Together, we can and will make a real change.