蜜桃传媒 Senior Fellow: Racial bias in U.S. policing is a national security threat
The events of Jan. 6, 2021, made unmistakably clear that racial bias is a national security threat.
The events of 2020 鈥� George Floyd鈥檚 extrajudicial killing played out over eight minutes and 46 seconds on millions of screens, Breonna Taylor shot to death in her home by police, among far too many others 鈥� finally moved Americans to a reckoning with the racism that has always been a mortal threat to the lives of Black people in this country.
Now the rest of the story has been unmasked. Racism threatens not just the lives of the Black, Indigenous and people of color who are its obvious targets. Racism threatens the survival of our democracy and our security as a nation.
The real horror at the end of the day last Wednesday was not the white nationalist, 鈥渁lt-right鈥� breach of the U.S. Capitol. It was the willingness of our institutions to turn a blind eye to the white nationalist violence building in this country over the last four years, and the racial bias in law enforcement that provided permission for that violence to proliferate.
Last September, FBI Director Christopher Wray that 鈥渞acially motivated violent extremism鈥� led by 鈥減eople subscribing to some kind of white supremacist-type ideology鈥� was the nation鈥檚 leading domestic terrorist threat. That was three weeks to the day before the (initially planned as an execution) of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The president relentlessly fueled these extremists with conspiracy theories and recruitment of his supporters 鈥� including white nationalists and militia members 鈥� into an 鈥渁rmy for Trump.鈥� He repeatedly spurred them to violence, first in response to public health measures responding to COVID-19, then to attack peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters. The (AP) called these repeated armed mobilizations encouraged by the president 鈥渁 series of dress rehearsals.鈥� As the AP wrote of last week鈥檚 storming of the U.S. Capitol, 鈥渢he nation was shocked. But not unwarned.鈥�
There is only one answer to the question of why these abundant warnings went unheeded: racism. Our institutional unwillingness to address racial bias in policing left five dead 鈥� including a police officer 鈥� laptops and files bearing confidential national security information stolen, our nation鈥檚 enemies emboldened, and a world horrified by the sight of armed men brandishing hostage-taking gear and the Confederate flag breaking and entering into the U.S. Capitol while gallows they had erected stood outside. What鈥檚 more, the president put out a video message proclaiming, 鈥淲e love you. You鈥檙e very special.鈥�
Our institutional unwillingness to address racial bias in policing led the political center to turn a blind eye and deaf ear as the president sent into American cities to quell largely peaceful demonstrations against the bias in policing now shown to be such a national threat. We and others, including , warned at the time that these acts of federal authoritarianism 鈥� betraying a fundamental conservative value of local control 鈥� were dress rehearsals for the martial law the president envisioned in case of his electoral defeat.
As we saw last week, these dress rehearsals culminated in a stunning success on the international stage. The dress rehearsals whipped up grievance in a nation traumatized by a global pandemic and its economic fallout. The dress rehearsals helped to hone the tactics used to breach the U.S. Capitol. Most importantly, the lack of a unified national condemnation of the racial bias endemic in our nation鈥檚 law enforcement constituted a red carpet and open door for the violent attempt to overthrow the results of a constitutional fair and free election.
Systemic racism and unconscious racial bias have long been documented in U.S. law enforcement, as throughout all of our institutions. While there are many law enforcement officers and even a few departments that contradict this norm, the problem is real and it is deadly. As the :
- Black people are 3.5 times more likely than white people to be killed by police when Black people are not attacking or do not have a weapon.
- Black teenagers are 21 times more likely than white teenagers to be killed by police.
- A Black person is killed about every 40 hours in the U.S.
- One out of Black men can expect to be killed by police violence.
As unacceptable as this reality is, the problem is even worse. Systemic racism and racial bias not only lead to deadly and discriminatory policing of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) in our communities, it also permits law enforcement collusion 鈥� both active or implicit 鈥� with white supremacist beliefs and the white nationalist movement.
The implications of far-right ideologies within law enforcement were detailed last year in a report by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The report, titled , said: 鈥淲hile it is widely acknowledged that racist officers subsist within police departments around the country, federal, state, and local governments are doing far too little to proactively identify them, report their behavior to prosecutors who might unwittingly rely on their testimony in criminal cases, or protect the diverse communities they are sworn to serve.鈥�
The ideological support and even membership in extremist far-right organizations among law enforcement has been obscured by a cynical and discredited but still widely perpetuated narrative of . was more than the debut on the national stage of the white nationalist and white supremacist forces that felt emboldened by Trump鈥檚 election. Charlottesville popularized the far-right falsehood that depicts armed vigilantes and organized paramilitaries as righteous defenders of communities and 鈥渉eritage.鈥� And it was the beginning of the mainstream acceptance of attacks on peaceful, constitutionally protected protesters, as documented in the Southern Poverty Law Center report When the 鈥楢lt-Right鈥� Hit the Streets: Far-Right Political Rallies in the Trump Era.
This both-siderism persisted even through the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, with some lawmakers blaming Black Lives Matter protesters or undercover 鈥渁ntifa鈥� for what white nationalist groups had spent months openly planning, with the president鈥檚 encouragement.
In contrast to the prevailing narrative, a in all 50 states last May and June found that 96.3% of events involved no property damage or police injuries, and in 97.7% of events, no injuries were reported among participants, bystanders or police.
The researchers wrote in The Washington Post: 鈥淭hese figures should correct the narrative that the protests were overtaken by rioting and vandalism or violence. Such claims are false. Incidents in which there was protester violence or property destruction should be regarded as exceptional 鈥� and not representative of the uprising as a whole.
鈥淚n many instances, police reportedly began or , but some observers nevertheless the protesters. The claim that the protests are violent 鈥� even when the police started the violence 鈥� can help local, state and federal forces justify intentionally beating, gassing or the people marching, or reinforces politicians鈥� calls for 鈥榣aw and order.鈥欌��
The racism inherent in the continued mischaracterization of racial justice protesters has enabled inattention and confusion not only at the national level, but also at the municipal and state levels, which is where democratic practice should find its strongest protection.
When the political center fails to coalesce against fascism, it is hypocritical to scapegoat those anti-fascists who believe they are keeping faith with the more than 400,000 Greatest Generation American lives lost in World War II. If the political center doesn鈥檛 stand against the obvious reality of ongoing and deadly racism in our law enforcement agencies, it will continue to be up to the young people with the stamina to come out night after night to press for change in the streets.
It鈥檚 past time for the business community to do more than cut a Black Lives Matter commercial. It鈥檚 past time for city leaders to do more than pass resolutions and then wring their hands when violent extremists come to town 鈥� or storm the U.S. Capitol. It鈥檚 past time for law enforcement to take seriously the threats to their own safety and the rule of law caused by anti-government formations and white nationalists in their own ranks.
Police reform is absolutely necessary, as one piece of redressing the structural racism undergirding the entire carceral system. But what we have to remember is, at the end of the day, inclusive democracy is facing twin threats: the legacy of white supremacy and the increasingly emboldened white nationalist movement and accompanying armed paramilitary defiance of the rule of law.
Defending our democratic freedoms and institutions should not be left to the young people in the streets, branded by the Trump administration as 鈥渢errorists鈥� simply for opposing extra-legal authoritarianism and sounding the alarm over the early signs of fascism. It鈥檚 the job of the middle, liberals and conservatives. It鈥檚 the job of business, religious and municipal leaders.
The only way forward is to account for the failures in our national security that were on display in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, a failure fully underwritten by our institutional unwillingness to face the fact of unconscious and structural racism.
Eric K. Ward is a senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Race Forward. He is also the executive director of Western States Center.
Lead photo by Getty Images/AFP/Oliver Douliery
