I've said it before and I'll say it again; Police were not created to "Protect and serve", that's just a marketing/PR tactic to get you to accept government overreach. There are exceptions of course..those few cops who get up every day to try to help people..but they are blind to the law, the same law that disproportionately targets the poor and your average minority. They are living in a fantasy world without any inkling of what they and their department are truly serving. The police were created for one purpose and one purpose alone, to protect capital and the property of the ruling class. It's sickening to see the glorification of police(as well as military), as if protecting the ruling class interests were of the utmost importance and something to be respected and highly regarded as "Heroic". This is not about "The good cops". There are those who have proven themselves worthy, but in reality, one day they're rescuing a dog from a raging river, and the next they are kicking homeless out of an area and confiscating what little possessions they have, or are racially profiling people, or beating someone up for who knows what reason. The problem is not" A few bad apples". The problem is the law, and in reality, there are just a few "Good apples" caught up in a system that does not support their values. If you want an example, just look into Cointelpro which resulted in a number of police officers invading the home of Black Panther party member Fred Hampton. They raided his home and fired hundreds of rounds of ammunition into his apartment, killing him at 4 am in the morning. His crime? Helping to feed poor children and speaking against imperialism/the status quo. Also look into the Black Panther Party in general to see what the police did to their members. Also look into the senseless beatings and murders of minorities, which in fact has always been happening, people are just now getting it on camera and showing proof. Also, look into the MOVE group. A group of African American activists who were trying to create utopia within their ghetto. They were constantly subjected to police raids, and in the end, the police ended up sending a helicopter to bomb their main building, killing many activists. Again I say, the police are a government agency, which was created to protect the Capitalist agenda and nothing more. Many of my white friends don't see this( or their own privilege for that matter) and it's aggravating. All you have to do is look to recent and past protests to see how quickly the police assemble to thwart a peaceful protest(especially if its a protest by people of color), and how slow they respond to real crimes such as rape. Thousands of rape kits remain untested and the police do not care. This is just one example, if you look closely you will find a lot more. Officers have also been accused and found guilty of ticketing people just to get revenue for the state. The list of abuses goes on and on. I think it's safe to say without a doubt, that systemic racism flows from the very lifeblood that founded this country. The "Kill them before they grow" mentality has always been applied to African Americans. From the deaths of Malcolm X and MLK jr, to the deaths amassed during the civil rights movement, to the deaths of Fred Hampton and Huey P. Newton of the Black Panther Party, all the way up until present day with the deaths of Michael Brown and others. Suppression of black movements seems by force seems to be a well played tactic in the U.S., and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down any time soon. I will add more to this blog as the story develops and I've studied more about the history of the police.
I will leave you with this quote by Omali Yeshitela,
"You have the emergence in human society
Of this thing that’s called the state
What is the state? the state is this organized bureaucracy
It is the po-lice department. it is the army, the navy
It is the prison system, the courts, and what have you
This is the state -- it is a repressive organization
But the state -- and gee, well, you know,
You’ve got to have the police, cause..
If there were no police, look at what you’d be doing to yourselves!
You’d be killing each other if there were no police!
But the reality is..
The police become necessary in human society
Only at that junction in human society
Where it is split between those who have and those who ain’t got
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