Three times more likely
Police in the United States are three times more likely to use force against leftwing protesters than rightwing protesters, according to new data from a non-profit that monitors political violence around the world.
In the past 10 months, US law enforcement agencies have used teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and beatings at a much higher percentage at Black Lives Matter demonstrations than at pro-Trump or other rightwing protests.
As we saw just last week.
The statistics, based on law enforcement responses to more than 13,000 protests across the United States since April 2020, show a clear disparity in how agencies have responded to the historic wave of Black Lives Matter protests against police violence, compared with demonstrations organized by Trump supporters.
Barack Obama highlighted an earlier version of these statistics on 8 January, arguing that they provided a “useful frame of reference” for understanding Americans’ outrage over the failure of Capitol police to stop a mob of thousands of white Trump supporters from invading and looting the Capitol on 6 January, a response that prompted renewed scrutiny of the level of violence and aggression American police forces use against Black versus white Americans.
Not a pretty story.
Maybe the US would be better off with an all-black police force and at every level. Worth a try, surely. Could hardly finish up worse than the existing setup
I wonder how the percentages play out for ‘unarmed’ versus ‘armed’ protesters? The kid-glove policy since Waco has certainly let them know that law enforcement will do little or no enforcing under threat of gunfire.
As Ta-Nehesi Coates and Paul Butler argue, in the US the role of the police is not to prevent crime but to protect the system, the status quo. As the status quo depends on the oppression of poor people and especially people of colour, the police are de facto agents of white supremacy.
John the Drunkard: maybe but, you know, after decades of the same shit and no changes this kind of explanation just feels like an excuse, a justification. So, no.
I am surprised that the ratio is so small, I would have expected to to be higher.
Even here in OZ, our so-called security agencies spend more time focussed on trade unions, student movements, anyone to the left of Mike Pence, totally ignoring the day by day threats from Nazis, racists, and fascists.
Today our newspapers carry stories of Chinese-Australians being under threat from Chinese agents
Meanwhile, Bernard Callery, “Witness K”, and David McBride are prosecuted for embarrassing the Australian Government and journalists offices and homes are raided for the crime of committing journalism that doesn’t praise the government.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/16/secrecy-in-trial-of-witness-k-lawyer-bernard-collaery-an-offence-against-open-justice-law-council
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/06/05/abc-raid-david-mcbride/
We have met the enemy and he is us.