Structural Racism
Throughout the history of the United States of America, racism has never failed to prevail in every president’s era. Since the colonization, racism has been there, with the whites claiming to be the natives to the country. This led to the branding of minority groups, which include African Americans, Latino, and Hispanics, among others. Since then, racism has remained major issues in the United States, with the police being blamed for a great contribution to structural racism. The United States has remained to have a long history of blacks’ killings in the police’s hand with very little or no action taken upon the police officers. The country has still recently seen inhuman police acts of shooting and violently killings of non-whites. These structural racism practices have branded America a bad image with the world showing their anger for the brutal killing of the non-whites in the hands of police. Demonstrations have been reported in almost every state, with many of them ending in severe injuries to the demonstrators. While the US calls itself a democratic country, this is, however, different from what it has displayed to the world. The non-whites are becoming more threatened by the police, with their brutal killings being a significant concern. As a result, exploring structural racism has been an area of concern for an improved fathom of the impacts and strategies that the police agency, organizations, and government officials ought to embark on to address the issue.
Problem Overview
The use of excessive police force has been a major issue with the United States police department gaining a lot of criticism from the public. The black people have been greatly affected, with the federal Bureaus of Justice 2015 report showing Minneapolis to be one of the top states for the police racism killings (Mesic, Knopov, & Siegel, 2017). It was also found that the police are twice likely to use force or threaten a black person during a police stop than a white person. The brutal killing of George Floyd is one of the good examples of how the police in the US generally use excessive force. The death of George Floyd under the police hand, which is rather tasked with the accountability of ensuring security for the lives of people, was much dehumanizing. From the video footage, George would be heard calling for help claiming that he could not breathe. The deaths lead to worldwide protection with a decentralized social and political movement, Black Lives Matters (BLM), being established (Egede, & Walker, 2020). The structural racism has also seen events like sports campaigning for the end of brutal police killings, especially to the blacks, an issue which has been greatly associated with the American police.
For decades, lack of trust in law enforcement, racially discriminatory policing, and excessive use of force by police have been documented by several researchers, with much of the concern being placed on the US. In 2017, Los Angeles had one of the insane moments in which police responded to business property seizure. From the video footage, rather than detaining the people breaching the law, the police officers, however, started detaining the black business owner. With these kinds of pervasive tension, the non-whites have expressed lack of trust in the policing with the fear that any interaction with the police can escalate traumatic related issues. According to research conducted by Mesic et al. (2018), 67% of the blacks claimed to feel less secure under the hand of police. Besides, by focusing on parole supervision, it is well noted that structural racism still exists, with the largest number of the paroles under supervision being the blacks. Even though the federal prison system abolished parole, it is still practiced in some states. Based on the research from Columbia University Justice Lab, it was found that the blacks were 6.77 times more likely for parole supervision than their white counterparts.
Issues related to structural racism
Physical injuries and deaths have been one of the major issues associated with structural racism. The threatening force between the police and the blacks has been the cause of the ongoing struggles. The higher number of black deaths compared to the whites has not only affected the family in shirt terms but has also led to health issues and post-traumatic disorder. Besides, the most vulnerable groups to police threats have developed a strained relationship in which they tend not to trust the police anymore (Hardeman, Medina, & Kozhimannil, 2016). With the lack of trust, the citizens may end up acting in a manner that is scaring hence forcing the police to use excess force. Even though one may be unarmed, the police may however end up using excess force. According to Mesic, Knopov, & Siegel (2017), it has well been portrayed by the Washington Post based report in which it indicated that out of 991 people short and killed by police in 2017, 137 were unarmed.
Structural racism is also associated with the negative reactions from the citizens which may in turn have social, political and economic impact to the country. According to Mesic et al. (2018), once the police officers react with the use of excessive force that leads to injury or deaths, citizens may end up rioting. With the recent riots in United States, the nearest business and building structures ended up being destroyed. Staff working in such business lost their jobs with the building being completely burnt. This has negatively affected the country economy with the people whose business have been affected having to start a new live in business. After the death of George Floyd, many people filled the streets rioting which in turn led to increased spread of Covid-19 (Egede, & Walker, 2020). With the brutal killing by the police force being the major cause, the country has saw the virus spread unprecedented leading to deaths of people and lockdowns. Many people ended up losing jobs.
Long-Term Strategy for Addressing Structural Racism
With the blacks being the most affected by structural racism, the local, state and national government should invest in the real support of the minority communities by enacting and enforcing meaningful accountability measures to the police officers. According to Hardeman, Medina, & Kozhimannil (2016), the use of police in addressing societal problems associated with health and poverty end up disproportionately targeting of the minority communities. The movement should invest on programs designed to address the long-term issues related to structural racism health, education and other multiple areas. Racial disparity in policing is a clear image on how the same issues is a is experienced in other systems including health care, education and housing. While in the recent years several blacks such as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Terence Crutcher, Delrawn Small, Alton Sterling and many others have been killed, very little or no serious action have been taken to the police officers involved (Egede, & Walker, 2020). The policymakers should address the policing racial disparity while making follow ups to ensure justice prevail.
In the US, the police have been tasked with responding to issues involving poverty, health issues and homelessness. As a result, they end up using excessive force on minor issues like trespassing and loitering, sex work and many other which should not be criminalized. In the case of George Floyd, the alleged use of US$20 counterfeit bill could have been counteracted with summoning for arrest. to find the appropriate way of addressing such issues, the government ought to reduce its dependency on the police for the duties. According to Rosino, & Hughey (2018), the government should rather invest on initiatives that directly address the problem such as education, economic development, housing and accessible and affordable health care. Failure to fund and prioritize on policing issues while prioritizing criminalization and law enforcement on societal and poverty problem would lead to persistence of inequalities in poor, brown, and black communities.
Conclusion
The police force has been perceived to be the only responsible in providing security which have also led to several criticism and riots. It is however essential to note that we as citizens, the police chiefs, the government officials, and the non-governmental organization or agencies among other have the accountability too. With this collaboration, it would be easier to improve the policing acts and avoid much related structural racisms issues in police department. While structural racism has been there for several years, there is however some progress in mitigating the issues with the recent formation of BLM movement that has attracted attention globally. Justice and legal action ought to be taken to the police officer coupled to the structural racism to help avoid any future escalation to the issue.