The state is harassing citizens. The state is beating citizens. The state's enforcers, the cops, are unjustly killing citizens. A lot of factors are in play. I want to discuss the 'why.' Racism, money, guns, and our rhetoric all contribute to the 'why.'
The data on racism is pretty clear. You're a lot more likely to have a cop detain you if you're not white. Money drive cop & citizen interaction. Cops issue tickets to pad coffers and pay salaries. Civil asset forfeiture laws let cops just steal citizens' money. Guns are a problem. Cops carry guns; deadly force is tough to dispense without a weapon. We're an armed society; citizens are potentially armed.
Rhetoric is a terrible problem. Every state policy effort is a 'war.' Our 'wars' against putative crimes push cops to detain and arrest citizens. Our rhetoric creates fear. It manufactures fear. More below the fold.
We are fear mongers. We manufacture fear. It's a national pastime. ISIS. Ebola. Gay marriage. The War on Christmas. Iran is going nuclear. The damn Right Wing wants another war with Iran. Those idiot leftists are destroying our country. Climate Change is going to destroy the world. Welfare cheats are stealing our money. The 1% is stealing our future. The War on Drugs. The War on Terror. Vaccination. The War on Crime. Child Predators. Communism. Attacks on our constitutional rights. GMOs. I can't begin to compile a full list. Every issue is dire. Every problem is a threat to our society. A threat to ourselves, our children. Every sudden, new problem heightens our fear. The problems compound our fear.
And our fear is freighted into our social interactions. Cops are people. Cops carry that fear just like everyone else. The fear infects our cops. Every time they interact with a citizen, that fear is floating around the back of the their minds. A little fear sufficiently complicates any interaction. Fearful cops are little bit more on edge. Fearful cops are a little more likely to use force. A little more likely to escalate a situation when they're afraid. A little more likely to use a gun or taser when they don't need to. A little more likely to kill a citizen.
Our fears are unjustified. Crime rates in the U.S.A. are low. War is on every screen, but there's not been a huge up-tick suddenly. Kids aren't being kidnapped on every corner. Yeah, idiots aren't vaccinating, but infection rates are nothing compared to 100 years ago. We have problems, no doubt. Our fear to problem ratio is simply out of whack.
Fear is making our society sick. Push back on our leaders. Make it clear to them what their ridiculous fear mongering is causing. Push back on the media. Push back on your friends. Push back on your enemies. Push back on the cops. Push back on the state. Question your own thoughts and motivations. Push back on yourself.
Stop living in fear, and challenge others to do the same.