The Black Lives Matter movement is even larger than the anti-Vietnam War protests and every bit as distinguished by the courage of its participants. Back in 1968, during both the Republican and Democratic Party conventions, young people gave up their bodies and skulls to police violence; now the young and the old are not only susceptible to police misconduct and violence but to Covid-19. Anyone out in those streets, mask or no mask, is exposing him or herself to this highly contagious illness and they all know it.
The protest is about police violence against visible minorities, primarily, though not limited to, Black men. The catalyst for these demonstrations is a cellphone video showing an a 9 minute murder of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by four sick and violent human beings wearing police uniforms. They are all guilty, including the thug playing lookout. Over the years, this violence has morphed into regular killings. This has always been the case, but now, thanks to the cellphone, it has been made visible. These are modern day lynchings we are witnessing, just as large crowds witnessed lynchings in mostly southern states. The big difference, thank God, is that most of us were outraged to see what happened to Mr. Floyd; back then it was a kind of entertainment, a big picnic. We now are able to see how police have lied their way to impunity and how the legal system has supported this type of behavior. What’s happening now is that a critical mass of people have had enough. The Covid-19 virus has played a significant role; the high rate of unemployment because of closed-down businesses has freed thousands upon thousands of people to demonstrate, once again at their own risk.
Officials in the Trump administration are saying that racism is not the issue; they are proponents of the “bad apple” theory. A few bad apples spoil the pristine behavior and reputations of other police officers. But hey, why is it that the prisons are bursting at the seams and their clientele is predominantly Black or Latino? Trump surrounded himself with criminals but they have expensive lawyers. Americans are being forced to see the everyday reality of black lives; George Floyd has become a symbol. “I can’t breathe!” It’s also the justice system that has been suffocated.
On April 20, 2021, the 7th anniversary of Rubin Carter’s death, Derick Chauvin, the killer of George Floyd, was convicted of 2nd and 3rd degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. This was a first in American jurisprudence and should be celebrated. Unfortunately, the acquittal was sandwiched by two more police murders of Black people, one 20 year old Black youth in a suburb of Minneapolis and a 16 year old Black girl in Columbus, Ohio. There is no solace or comfort when something like this happens. Police pull out their guns before a situation has been properly assessed, and with little regard for life, open fire. The only thing that can be said is that other police no longer circle the wagons. What convicted Chauvin was first the cell phone recording and second, the testimony of police who condemned what he’d done.
THE RCMP
Canada’s national police force is full of good people, many of whom do bad things. That the force has a culture of racism, sexism, and violence is both an incontrovertible fact and the result of its history as a colonial occupier. The violence has been on full display in Canada or hidden behind closed doors. The 2007 taser murder of Robert Dziekanski by RCMP thug cops at Vancouver International Airport would no doubt have been blamed on the victim had not someone caught the incident with a cellphone. George Floyd would have been buried and forgotten had his murder by police not been recorded. The officers in the Dziekanski case claimed that the victim brandished a stapler at them. They lied (committed perjury) during an investigation. Perjury would be the only charge they faced. Ian Bush was a young man who lost his life under RCMP custody; he was found with a bullet in the back of his head. I haven’t even begun to deal with the murders of and outrages against indigenous peoples. And what a brilliant police force! Over a thousand missing and murdered native women and one arrest and conviction. Add uncaring and incompetent to that list. Just as in the USA, visible minorities are an easy target for sadistic well armed police, both local police and the RCMP.
The Mr. Big sting is the perfect image of the RCMP. The sting is one of the very few’ successful’ things they do, because their officers are well suited to playing the role of crime boss. They measure their success by confessions, never mind if they’re true or false. What is meant by systemic racism is a culture of violence and dehumanization toward people of colour. The RCMP is a systemically racist organization. It was founded as an instrument of colonial oppression against indigenous peoples. The targets and the methods seem to have changed only in the use of more advanced technologies. This is true of police forces all over the world.
How will it ever change? By people continuing to do what they are doing now: standing up for truth and trying to get others to join them. Then by working out coherent strategies for change. Then by voting. Then by holding politicians accountable. This kind of movement has failed before but it has also succeeded. The Black Power movement was notably destroyed by the FBI, the racist police and corrupt politicians and, it must be said, by the rhetoric of the Black Panthers which was used as a club against them. But there has been incremental change, not wholesale, in the lives of African Americans. Women’s Lib and LGBTQ rights are also evidence that change is possible. Just as before, though, and even better armed, the reactionary forces will always be there to stifle progress.
Does the arc move to freedom or repression? To liberation or oppression? Who decides?