“Police officers don’t face justice more often for a variety of reasons — from powerful police unions to the blue wall of silence to cowardly prosecutors to reluctant juries. But it is the Supreme Court that has enabled a culture of violence and abuse by eviscerating a vital civil rights law to provide police officers what, in practice, is nearly limitless immunity from prosecution for actions taken while on the job. The badge has become a get-out-of-jail-free card in far too many instances.”
The New York Times, editorial, 2020-05-30
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death we are again asking the same question we’ve been asking for more than five decades: Why are we letting this continue to happen? And everyone’s frustration with the death of yet another black man at the hands of police has reached the boiling point.
How did we get here? The above editorial is an excellent tutorial. It’s an important and insightful editorial. Please read it.
Understanding how we got here is essential knowledge for all of us if we’re going to forge a remedy to this tragic and chronic injustice.
Now we have to hold our lawmakers accountable for making this happen. As “we the people”, that’s our responsibility.