Attempts to reform police will likely fail if we do not come to terms with the political system that empowers them as well as their primary purpose. In a stratified class system designed to protect the interests of the wealthy, privileged classes, and the corporate/business world, they are there to defend the status quo. It’s no exaggeration albeit controversial to state things another way: in the absence of a working anti-poverty policy, they are there to enforce and maintain low wages and poverty among the under classes. This is the true meaning of law and order policies.
In American, this places an emphasis on racist and white supremacist policing, as the most unstable and disenfranchised elements of the under classes have always been, in most areas, people of color. The underclasses however, also include millions identified as “white”, separated from people of color, once via slavery and now by segregation and relative white privilege and favorable treatment by the state apparatus based on skin color, which can matter more sometimes than material privilege, which for some is very minimal. This is especially apparent in the criminal justice system, which in prisons has grown increasingly dominated by people of color, in large part because they are treated much more harshly in the courts for the same type of crimes. Recent Example: Racist policeman Chauvin commits a horrible first degree intentional murder caught on video which sets the nation on fire and gets 22 years for an undercharged 2nd degree murder indictment.
Society’s attitude as a whole towards crime also reinforces the type of policing we have as well as race. It is widely believed by whites that the police are there to protect us from the underclass and that policing is a legitimate response to street crime. This is patently false, even on its face. Crime declined in many major cities largely because the numbers of the underclasses have been sharply reduced by gentrification, which is a nationwide economic policy that has been bipartisan in nature, and by mass incarceration — a policy also supported in the past by both parties. This trend may have been partly halted by Cov19, and the millions of newly unemployed workers.
So what else can be done to reform the role of police in society? One must consider that even the Democratic response to recent increases in crime was typically the same old nonsense, despite their wide support among people of color and progressives. A statement by Biden noted that he does not support the defunding of police and insinuated that his response to increased crime is more police. It was an indistinguishable policy no different than from the Republicans. (Yes, I know that defunding was/is a bad choice of words, but I suspect that Biden knows what those who use the term really meant.)
We should remember that street crime, which is often epidemic in destabilized communities, is directly tied to those same economic conditions and high rates of under/unemployment. Increased police only worsens living conditions for those communities, rather than the false premise that it acts as crime deterrence. The deterrence factor, if there is one, is to confine the crime and suffering to these poor communities.
Catch-22?
The Catch-22 I’m referring to is the unavoidable dynamic as old as America. Americans tend to act and vote based on what they perceive as their racial (white) interests. We see racist counter protests in response to the thousands of George Floyd, anti-Trump protests last Spring. Some openly violent, and many that threatened mayhem and violence. One important difference has been that many whites also joined the Floyd demonstrations. The recent political polarization and collapse of the two party system has placed this historic racial division on the front burner, forcing people to take a much more definitive position on white supremacy. While neither party can be accused of leading the anti-white supremacist movement, we see the potential to pressure Biden’s administration to move away from Wall Street inspired centrism and take both an economic and political stand against white supremacy, including the type that is economically enforced. The Republicans have indeed turned totally to the fascism of advocating white supremacy, voter suppression and subservience to Trumpism, and another coup attempt cannot be ruled out.
Which brings us back to the police reform movement. And raises another potentially Catch-22 situation. Many police departments have demonstrated their unwillingness to confront racism and police reform. The legal and moral message of reform movements like Black Life Matters and others are completely justified, but at the same time risk driving the police further into Republican fascist hands. I don’t think the armed services themselves will support the next coup, but many police forces might just do that one day. And may allow the right wing fanatics free reign to attack progressive and black demonstrators. It’s already happened in some situations.
The Puppet Masters Behind the Police are Escaping Blame
Because victimized communities have to confront the police daily, and not just during mass demonstrations, it is often forgotten that our political and economic system are ultimately responsible for both police behavior and the destabilized communities that the poor often live in. With absolutely no plans historically to specifically address the poverty and low income status of millions of Americans, we should expect nothing more than lip service as it pertains to police reform on the part of the political class. That is because there is currently no material way (beyond the child credit being offered) to invest or improve conditions in our destabilized communities, making the only option being to maintain the status quo. Which is why police abuse is typically ignored and never punished. They are needed to keep the problems that arise from endemic poverty contained in those communities.
Conditions in our impoverished communities have grown worse, especially in recent years. Deindustrialization has further increased the numbers of destabilized communities, returning areas in many major cities back to poverty that were once stabilized by the availability of industrialized jobs (such as in cities likeDetroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland). Drugs and guns have often taken over many of these communities as the only viable way for many to escape their fate. Homicide rates skyrocket. Even if the police where absent any overtly racist behavior, their primary role would be to sit on this powder keg and arrest people who turn to crime for survival. Subjugation of the poor has long been enforced, but not caused, by the police. Politicians that claim to be supportive of police reform should be confronted by this reality. And that it’s pointless to reform the police without also improving and confronting the destabilized nature of these communities.
Where is our Leverage?
Successful movements for fundamental change are inherently risky. The progressive tide in the early days of the anti-racist anti-Trump mass struggles has given way to a white supremacist counter reaction. Which is the only card that the Republicans have left to play backed by massive voter suppression and gerrymandering or another coup attempt. But it’s been an historically effective one, acting like a universal Catch-22 negating progress. Biden is walking on quick sand if he continues on a law and order path on crime. He remains decidedly centrist in his outlook on some issues, and risks alienating his base by pandering to a notion of bipartisanship on the crime issue.
He must, of necessity, find a different approach. Years of Wall Street sponsored centrism has helped put us in this situation today, and will not improve his chances of navigating through the obstacles presented by the now openly fascist Republicans. It was the mass activism spawned in part by the murder of George Floyd that helped place white supremacy on the national agenda. The Republicans were shocked that Trump lost anyway. We should not forget that, and the power of the mass movement. And allow ourselves to be lulled to sleep. Change always is instigated from below. The police cannot be reformed without pressure on their masters and progressive economic changes. The police may maintain the status quo among the under classes, but they did not create the system that keeps them there perpetually.