Racism and Police Power |
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7 June 2020
The unfortunate truth that I think too many people ignore is that racism is an innate property of humans. It evolved when we traveled in groups of dozens of individuals who mostly looked the same. When encountering a human that looked different, they were likely from another tribe and so a threat or resource to exploit. This evolutionary baggage is not going away so society will always have to take an active position to combat it's resurgence. Even those of us that try not to be sometimes act in a racist way because we are unconscious that we're doing it.
We also know that giving one human power over another allows the powerful to dehumanize the other person, and treat them like an animal. Stanford prison experiment anyone? Some western societies *cough* *Norway* *cough* have learned this, do not give police the power to use deadly force, and incentivize them to de-escalate situations rather than make arrests. They keep the peace. Literally.
In the US we have a powder keg of excessive police power combined with a long history of racism at every level of society. So #BlackLivesMatter, but also #DefundThePolice.