What's new is the media attention. There were protests before. But they were never integrated before. Why did it take so long for (more) white people to see this was real?
I was just 5 years old when the NYPD killed Eleanor Bumpers. It is my first memory of seeing "racism" clearly I remember asking why the people on the Sunday talk shows were saying such mean things about a lady who was dead and had mental health problems.
I didn't understand everything they were saying but the tone of contempt was crystal clear.
Nothing changed after Eleanor Bumpers.
Nothing changed after Alberta Spruil.
Nothing changed after Randolph Evans.
Nothing changed after Amadou Diallo.
Nothing changed after Sean Bell.
Nothing changed after Abner Louima
Nothing changed.
So, what changed? I think it was two interrelated things:
Video and social media made it harder to ignore police brutality.
Video and social media sparked an unquiet sometimes violent backlash that was equally hard to ignore.
And here we are. After screaming "peacefully" for 30 years someone is listening.
So, where do we go from here?