CONTENTS
SUMMER HOW WE VIEW HISTORICAL FIGURES In response to the Black Lives Matter movement, controversy has once again surrounded monuments of historical figures. Where is the line drawn in distinguishing a provocative statue from what should be a venerated remnant of history? Using a historical lens, Jupiter Huang ’21 discusses the possibility of converting monuments to educate the community about the past.
THIS MONTH’S ISSUE A FEW WORDS FROM THE 11TH BOARD
Far too frequently over these past few months, the issue of racism has come to the forefront of our attention for the wrong reason: the tragic loss of life. As the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others spur protests across the country, The First Amendment aims to draw attention to and dissect the calls for change that have filled the summer of 2020. Our publication schedule during the spring was in its final stages when the majority of the protests began, making it impossible to cover the topic with more than a hasty article. We determined that this was an irresponsible way to address a topic of such magnitude, and have instead opted to work on a summer issue solely dedicated to the impact of the protests in the context of other current events in an attempt to do this discussion of civil rights justice. In absence of content related to international events and politics, we have instead divided this issue into sections by encouraging writers to consider topics related to “action,” as in concrete policy changes and the rationale behind them, as well as “reflection,” a more flexible category that prompts discussion focused on ethical arguments and patterns we might infer from historical trends. This element of reflection, we feel, is key to discussing any modern issue, but is particularly important in this time of great change and action. We cannot discuss issues of racial inequality in the U.S. without tracing them back to their historical roots, understand today’s protests without considering those of the past, or predict the ripple effects of change without analyzing patterns that do not always make the news. Of our recent submissions, we are dedicating this issue to sharing six works that, in our estimation, present a range of timely information and opinions pertaining to the many questions raised in the U.S. this summer, from a discussion of the role of housing in systemic racism to proposed policy changes regarding police brutality. This exploration does not stop here; as the year progresses, The First Amendment aims to continue discussing these themes in the context of upcoming political and social developments in the U.S. As the 2020-21 school year commences and election season approaches, The First Amendment would like to reiterate our commitment to encouraging healthy political discourse and debate on campus. The summer issue aims to spark constructive discussion among the Lawrenceville community as we not only reflect on the events of the summer, but also consider actionable steps for the future. Whether it be participating in protests, supporting social/political movements, or even casting a ballot this November, we, too, have the power to make meaningful change. - The 11th Board
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SYSTEMIC RACISM & WHITE FLIGHT Many communities continue to suffer from the historically racist housing industry and the government’s agenda to keep neighborhoods separated by race, which still hurts predominately Black and Brown areas today. Ije Achebe ’21 examines the unequal use of the GI Bill passed shortly after World War II that prevented disadvantaged Black veterans from obtaining housing and led to the continued segregation of neighborhoods.
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POLICE BRUTALITY TIMELINE Throughout social media and news outlets we read of incidents surrounding police brutality, calling upon a closer look to the like of George Floyd, Botham Jean, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin. Roma Kale ’23 takes us back to these four infamous cases of police brutality and explores each unique incident’s background and impact.
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MASTHEAD
YOU’VE GOT THE WRONG GUY; COPS AREN’T THE PROBLEM Demands for major police reform tied to the Black Lives Matter movement continues to gain attention across the U.S. However, are such demands viable solutions, especially that of police defunding? Rory Connor ’22 discusses the dangers of defunding the police and how to best reduce crime through an argument constructed with data and historical analysis.
Executive Editors Avigna Ramachandran ’21 Mac Dilatush ’21 Domestic Editors Ben Polaski ’21 Nico Torres ’22 Features Editor Mel Josephson ’22
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BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTEST MAP With the recent death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests have erupted across the nation. From the defacing of statues to the birth of an autonomous-zone, Kajal Dongre ’22 explores how various cities have reacted to the matter. 11-12
C.H.A.Z. (CAPITAL HILL AUT. ZONE) Protestors have claimed a sixblock area in Seattle as a police-free autonomous state as a part of the recent protests surrounding police brutality and racial injustice, calling it the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). The creation of this space raises the following questions: How does CHAZ compare to similar movements in the past, and how effective will it be in addressing current issues? Daniel Zhu ’23 comments on the flaws of CHAZ and its unlikely chances of causing meaningful change.
Editors-in-Chief Jasper Zhu ’21 Cherie Fernandes ’21
International Editors Kylan Tatum ’21 Jupiter Huang ’21 Senior Columnists Victoria Gong ’21 Chris Pandapas ’21 Lucia Wetherill ’21 Associate Editors Ethan Leung ’23 Ashley Wang ’23 Amelie Wickham ’22 Carina Li ’22 Daniel Zhu ’23 Faculty Advisor Anne Louise Smit P’10 ’13 Contact Us: Like us on Facebook at: facebook.com/firstamendmentlville Follow us on Instagram: @tfalville
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How We View Historical Monuments Jupiter Huang ’21 With the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests spurring action across the nation, monuments of historical figures have once again come under fire. In particular, statues of Confederate officers and monuments of other controversial figures from the United States’ history have faced removal or vandalism, with many already torn down or relocated. Complex webs of conflicting social, political, and economic historiographies make discussion around these monuments incredibly difficult, and
the current trend of viewing American history focusing predominantly on stories of oppression, racism, and bigotry leaves few figures unmarred by controversy. This controversy, rather than leading to the removal of monuments featuring American heroes, ought to change the way that monuments initially intended to celebrate individuals specifically for the ways they benefited our nation are presented. The majority of these monuments are representations of a flawed past and can be converted to educate and remind us that multiple historiographies are behind every historical figure and important historical event. A comprehensive historical lens would help distinguish and protect monuments that honor the actions of controversial figures that benefited the nation despite the flaws in their personal beliefs. For instance, the Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt, crafted in 1939 by the renowned sculptor James Frazer, is being removed
from the entrance of New York’s Museum of Natural History. The statue features the former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt on horseback accompanied by a black and Native American escort on foot. Roosevelt, being an avid naturalist, a supporter of the museum, and a man responsible for numerous policies that protected over 230 million acres of public land (150 million as natural forests), was a natural choice for the museum to honor. In a time where Jim Crow ran rampant in the South, he was far more progressive than expected. Meanwhile, the Eugenics movement was widely accepted even by scientists belonging to the intellectual elite. He invited Booker T. Washington, the first African American to dine in the White House,
“A great number of statues can be interpreted as supporting white supremacy.” appointed the first black regional postmaster, and intervened on Native Americans rights several times during his presidency. Proponents argue that by placing Roosevelt on horseback (a commonly used form of glorification) and creating a pyramidal structure, Fraser’s statue supports white supremacy and glorification of Roosevelt’s own colonialist and racist beliefs. However, this pyramidal structure was not a means of showing a disparity between races; it was a popular means to represent the continents at the time of its creation. James Fraser stated that the “two figures at [Roosevelt’s] side are guides symbolizing the continents of Africa and America, and if you choose, may stand for Roosevelt’s friendliness to all races.” Fraser’s usage of “if you choose” indicates that race was NOT a major consideration in the creation of this statue; the figures were included as a means to emphasize Roosevelt’s conservationist efforts in
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the two continents they represent, a fact that would have been very clear in the time of its creation. This statue may not live up to the standards of racial justice and equality today, but it was not created to portray any racial message at all; instead, it was a way for a Natural History Museum to thank a president who was a lover of Natural History for the major strides
tion Memorial made by Thomas Ball from removal. The statue’s design features Abraham Lincoln standing next to a black man rising from a kneeling position, his shackles having been removed. The man’s posture incited criticism from abolitionist Frederick Douglass at the time of unveiling in 1876, one of the reasons for the removal of the statue. Furthermore, critics argue against the glorification of Lincoln himself, citing times when he supported “Recolonization”, the idea of moving blacks to Liberia, in a meeting with black delegates in 1862. However, it must be understood that this monument celebrates, specifically, the Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln drafted shortly after this meeting, and with it, the call for an immediate, not gradual, emancipation of all slaves in the Southern states. This action not only granted all Southern blacks a chance at freedom, they were explicitly made with the intent of further debilitating the Confederate war effort and provide yet more moral justification for the Union side, seen through the enlistment of over 200,000 free blacks into the Union army. Like it or not, Lincoln, a man who was not a staunch abolitionist for his entire life, was the man whose actions were, looking from the perspective of 1876, the most consequential in liberating the black man. Furthermore, this particular statue was not meant to depict a kneeling slave, but, in
“Monuments, being out in the public and proudly displayed, are great ways to remind us of how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go.” he made in protecting the American biome. For this statue to be considered a symbol of hatred and oppression betrays its intent and constitutes an excessive use of presentism, wherein we impose our own preferred historical narrative and current norms for judging imagery upon a statue created in a very different era for a very different purpose than we choose to believe. There are a great many statues that can be interpreted as supporting white supremacy and glorifying oppression, but they don’t need to be. Changes made to the way these statues and monuments present themselves can effectively transform them into vessels that, through example, educate the American public on the myriad of historical perspectives that one can view them with. Monuments such as the Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt ought to be converted with additional plaques and information boards that detail not only the intended purpose of the monument, but also the accomplishments and flaws of the historical figure(s) they represent. Likewise, a varied historical lens and an educational purpose would also save a copy of the Emancipa-
the words of a member of the African American Civil War Museum at Boston, a freedman “in the act of rising and seizing his own agency.” In 1876, Reconstruction was underway, thus, blacks were indeed seizing their own agency, and this statue celebrates that. Furthermore, the fact that freed slaves covered the entire 50,000 dollars needed for the white sculptor Thomas Ball to construct the original in Washington, D.C., demonstrates a unity of purpose between whites and blacks of celebrating Emancipation, not white superiority or Recolonization. For this statue to be removed, much like the Equestrian Statue of Roosevelt in New York, under claims that it belittles the black man, or worse, that it supports the superiority of whites over blacks, shows that the bias of presentism has washed over what could have otherwise been a great source of reflection and education. This statue is a premature celebration of a victory that must come eventually, and in many ways, reflects the triumphs and failures of
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race policy from the era of Lincoln on to the present day. To remove this statue would be a denial of that history, and a denial that this nation has tried time and time again to extend its freedoms, though not always successfully. Monuments, being out in the public and proudly displayed, are great ways to remind us of how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go. This does not mean that all monuments can be turned into public museum pieces—in particular, it does not defend the continued public existence of Confederate statues and monuments specifically meant to glorify “Confederate heroes.” Under any historical lens, Confederate statues that were not erected to memorialize the soldiers lost in the Civil War, but rather, for the sole purpose of enforcing the narrative of the Lost Cause, should be removed. The vast majority of these statues, overwhelmingly located in the American South, were also erected in times of severe racial strife, notably coinciding with the era of traditional segregation and Jim Crow from 1877 to 1964. The creation of these statues
nerstone, stated by their Vice President Alexander Stephens, was the preservation of slavery and the enforcement of the inferiority of black men. These statues then, under any and all historical context, are created to celebrate disunion and to promote the glory of traitors. Since they were meant to support the Jim Crow system of institutional racism and discrimination, they unequivocally, and fundamentally, symbolize hatred. The argument of preserving American history does not defend their continued existence as public memorials, and should instead be relegated to the inside of museums and collections that appropriately detail the history of the American South. The difference between a monument and a memorial is that monuments glorify, while memorials celebrate, educate, and remind us of the past. This means that while statues explicitly created to demean, intimidate, and create disunion should certainly be relegated to museums,
“These statues then, under any and all historical context, are created to celebrate disunion and to promote the glory of traitors.” served to benefit the Southern narrative of a “lost cause,” an ideology of nostalgia for an era of slaveholding and a glorification of a rebellion against the Union that cost 600,000 lives. A large number of these statues are of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, who in fact opposed the creation of monuments for himself while he was still alive. Confederate generals lead a rebellion whose cor-
we should try and draw the line at controversial monuments that can be converted into memorials with educational value. This does beg the question: If our past harbors so much controversy, why not just get rid of all these statues of our past? The answer lies in the value of embracing as complete a history as we possibly can. We must view history with an open lens, and consider more than just the historical angle that we want to hear, and in doing so, accept that historical figures were as prone to the mistakes and the influence of their times as we are. Under this lens, we can still remove statues that glorify Robert E. Lee in the public where they certainly do not belong. Rather, these statues should be relegated to museums with plaques, brochures, and QR code links to websites that explain the complex origins of the dated statues. There, they can serve as a stark reminder for the horrible injustices they once glorified and provide historical context for the improvements that we must make moving forward.
REFLECTION 5
Although the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the GI Bill, did not discriminate against African-American veterans, this piece of legislation did not protect these soldiers from the racial discrimination prevalent in housing after World War II. The rise in suburbia that succeeded the war exacerbated racial tensions between white and black citizens because white people increasingly left urban communities in order to keep their neighborhoods homogenous as black and brown people migrated to cities. According to historian and Ohio State professor, David Steigerwald, this covertly racist “white flight” had crippling effects on minorities who were new to the cities because the lowered property values diminished the tax base and therefore affected different aspects of life such as urban schooling and trash collection. After years at war, a lot of veterans envisioned an easier, more private lifestyle for themselves. In fact, over 43% of black servicemen hoped and expected to relocate after the war and find better jobs. Soldiers had the opportunity to achieve that lifestyle during the rise in suburbia because they received a loan guaranty from the government under the GI Bill that could be used to buy residential property. The loans provided by the government under the GI Bill proved effective as there was an increase in home ownership in 1947. However, this increase in home ownership, especially in suburban areas, did not apply to black veterans and they were often met with resistance when they attempted to use the benefits the GI Bill guaranteed them suggesting that they moved into the newly impoverished cities or found other dilapidated housing. Historian Louis Lee Woods II confirms this suggestion when he states that a report on veterans in Birmingham, Alabama after World War II revealed that they had problems obtaining adequate housing, if any at all; neighborhoods of black
White Flight Sheds Light On Systemic Racism Ijeamaka Achebe ’21 veterans in the area at the time still had outhouses. Knowing that black veterans were subjected to living in unsafe environments corroborates the claim that the GI Bill did not support African-Americans despite being hailed as one of the most progressive programs of the time because it demonstrates that it did not have the power to override oppressive federal agencies such as the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). The HOLC, a program that made loans to homeowners, and the FHA, a program that insured private-sector loans, both refused to lend money to black people and also refused to lend money to white people who intended to move into predominantly black and brown areas. Feminist historian Karen Brodkin Sacks also wrote that the FHA worked in tandem with the Veterans’ Administration and the U.S. Employment Service to deny African-American GIs access to the benefits of the GI Bill, especially residential opportunities, by ensuring that black soldiers were disproportionately dishonorably discharged, disqualifying them for the GI Bill benefits. Those who were honorably discharged then faced issues receiving the loans they needed to set up a new life. These actions not only explain the ineffectiveness of the GI Bill for black veterans but the government’s role in maintaining segregated communities throughout the country and therefore upholding racist policies. The federal government’s
active role in promoting systemic racism contributed to the mindset that attributed “whiteness” to good neighborhoods: suggesting that suburban areas were also synonymous with “good” neighborhoods as white people made up suburbia. While the government already strived to construct white neighborhoods, its involving veterans in its attempt to do so further damaged black communities and has begun to show its effects today during the revival of the Black Lives Matter Movement. The most pressing issues for protesters today are obtaining justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, who died as a result of racially charged police brutality, and Ahmaud Arbery who was murdered in broad daylight because he was black. However, in addition to police brutality and lynching, protesters are also marching for the end of systemic racism and racial equity. Housing plays a huge role in the end of systemic racism because de facto segregation still persists in a lot of communities as a result of decisions made after World War II by the FHA and the Veterans’ Administration, leaving inner-cities without the same access to resources as the suburban areas and with an overall poorer quality of life. Although the GI Bill increased the middle class from the ‘50s on, the racial divide it created and promoted might have been remedied had African-American veterans been able to easily receive the benefits of the legislation.
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Police Brutality Timeline of the Recent Past Roma Kale ’23 John Geer- August 29, 2013 John Geer was fatally shot by Fairfax County Police Department Officer Adam Torres in Springfield, Virginia, after speaking with a hostage negotiator for forty-two minutes, throughout which time Torres had a gun trained on Geer despite being asked to lower the weapon by a fellow officer. Geer was unarmed with his hands raised, and while Torres claimed that Geer had started to lower his hands towards a holstered gun that was reportedly on the ground away from his body, the four other officers present disagreed with this assessment, one of whom stating, “he [Geer] didn’t have to die that day.” Geer’s daughters filed a lawsuit that was settled in 2015 for $3 million and Torres was charged with second degree murder on August 27, 2015, and on June 25, 2016, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to one year imprisonment, including time served.
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Trayvon Martin- February 26, 2012 George Zimmerman killed teenager Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, while Martin, wearing a hoodie, walked home from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer and aspiring police officer, reported Martin to the police and claimed that Martin looked suspicious. The dispatcher advised him not to follow the boy—advice that he proceeded to ignore. Zimmerman told the police that he shot Martin out of self-defense, and as there were no witnesses, police initially chose not to arrest him. Only after weeks of protests was Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder. Zimmerman pleaded not guilty, and in his 2013 trial, a jury of six women acquitted him. Martin’s death and Zimmerman’s acquittal inspired activists to create the BLM movement, which works to ensure that victims of police brutality or of civilians that assume the role of law enforcement are not forgotten.
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Bryce Masters- September 14, 2014 Seventeen-year-old Bryce Masters was stopped by Missouri officer Timothy Runnels while en route to a friend’s house. Runnels, who claimed to smell marijuana in the car, ordered Masters out of the vehicle. When Masters refused to comply, asking for specifics as to why he was being restrained, Runnels shot him with the stun gun and forcibly removed him from the car, tasing him continuously for 23 seconds, after which Masters suffered multiple long-term brain injuries. A federal grand jury on March 26 indicted Runnels on two counts of deprivation of constitutional rights and two counts of obstruction of justice.
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Highlighting George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, protests continue to demand accountability from U.S. law enforcement. The following cases describe a handful of instances of police brutality that made the news in the last decade.
Tamir Rice- November 22, 2014 Frank Garmback and William Cunningham were both on the scene when fellow officer Timothy Loehmann shot and killed Tamir Rice on November 22, 2014. Rice, a 12-year-old boy, was playing with a realistic-looking airsoft pistol on a Cleveland playground. In 2015, a grand jury chose not to indict the officers for criminal charges. Rice’s family filed a wrongful death case against the City of Cleveland, which the city settled for $6 million. An internal investigation found a series of misconduct by multiple officers leading up to Rice’s death. Loehmann was eventually fired for lying on his job application, instead of for murdering Rice. Rice’s death sparked demonstrations in Cleveland and reignited ongoing protests in the wake of Michael Brown’s murder, which had occurred just two weeks before.
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Andrew Thomas- November 25, 2015 Twenty-six-year-old Andrew Thomas was driving while intoxicated and crashed his car, killing his wife in the process. As Thomas emerged from his car, Patrick Feaster, a Paradise California, police officer fired his gun once at Thomas, hitting him in the neck and paralyzing him permanently. Feaster did not inform responding paramedics that Thomas had been shot, nor did he announce to the radio dispatchers the discharge of his service weapon. When an injured Thomas told another officer that he’d been shot and that officer responded, “No, you haven’t,” Feaster did not state otherwise, and appeared to search the ground for shell castings in the video of the encounter. Feaster only informed his commanding officer that he had fired the shot 11 minutes after the event, and was later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and removed from the force. Thomas died from his injuries in December 2015.
Botham Jean- September 6, 2018 Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger murdered Botham Jean on September 6, 2018. Mistaking Jean’s apartment for her own, Guyger entered the residence and fatally shot Jean in the chest because the officer assumed that he was a burglar. A jury, consisting mostly of women and POCs, convicted Guyger of murder, sentencing her to a lenient 10 years in prison. Guyger had a short history of sending racist texts and posts. Thousands of demonstrators protested Guyer’s short sentence by marching through Dallas, and hundreds observed a moment of silence at Jean’s former apartment complex.
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George Floyd- May 25, 2020 On May 25, 2020, a convenience store employee called the police on George Floyd after she believed he used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes. When the police arrived, Officer Thomas Lane drew his gun for reasons that remain unclear. While restraining Floyd, Officer Derek Chauvin then planted his knee on Floyd’s neck. After bystanders pleaded for the officers to check Floyd’s pulse, Officer Kueng eventually did so, but he found no pulse. In total, Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Floyd was eventually taken to a hospital and pronounced dead one hour later. On May 26, all four officers involved were fired, the video of Floyd’s murder was released, and protests began in Minneapolis. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, while the other three officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Floyd’s death sparked global protests, bringing the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement all over the world. In the United States, weeks of mostly peaceful protests have initiated concrete change, with local governments like the Minneapolis city council promising to reform their police department and banning police use of chokeholds.
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You’ve Got the Wrong Guy; Cops Aren’t the Problem Rory Connor ’22 Police reform, police defunding, and police demilitarization have recently become much more popular ideas because of their significant support within the Black Lives Matter movement. To preface my argument about the effectiveness of these strategies, I want to make clear that I value black lives. I also agree with the majority of the changes to America that the Black Lives Matter movement calls for. However, policing is a very important exception to this rule. Police reform would in no way be beneficial to Americans in general or to Americans of any ethnic group. A common argument for police reform is that police kill black people in large numbers, and therefore need to stop existing in their current form. While police killings are tragic, they
are not a significant enough problem to merit any major change in America’s system of policing, unless said change had almost no cost to society. According to CDC data, 11.7 percent of all deaths in 2015 can be attributed to African Americans, who made up 12.3 percent of the population. However, despite this lower proportion of overall death, black Americans often make up a much larger percentage of the deaths from police shootings. In 2015, according to the Washington Post, there were 94 unarmed Americans shot by police, 38 of which were black. 2015 had more shootings than any other year for which the Washington Post collected data. Although the absolute number of black Americans shot was small, it’s important to note that 40.4 percent of the victims of police shootings in America in 2015 were black. While true, this fact does not substantiate the claim that police should be abolished, defunded, or demilitarized. The objections I have to this line of reasoning is the magnitude of the issue, the causes of said issue, and the proposed solution. Although black Americans are three times more likely to be shot by police than white Americans, the proportion of people who are shot by police that are black should not matter nearly as much as the proportion
of black people who are shot by police when determining how afraid of police one should be if they are living as a black person in America. This is like the difference between hearing that 90 percent of people who die in a Starbucks are white, versus telling that same person that 90 percent of white people die in a Starbucks. The first is barely surprising, while the second is mortifying. So even though black Americans are three times more likely to be shot by the police than white Americans, black Americans are also 1000 times more likely to die from malignant neoplasms as from a police shooting. The data clearly show that the magnitude of this problem is so small that any potential benefit of police reform that involves saving human life would be negligible on the scale of our country as a whole. Before we focus upon policing, and the cause of police shootings, we need to talk about crime. The protection from crime that policing provides Americans of all races is critically important. The relationship between the amount of policing in an area and the rates of violent crime is not a simple linear one. There are many factors that can lead to heightened crime rates in an area, but the largest factors, excluding police action, are the population density of an area and the average wealth of the people who live there. Poor people living in an apartment complex in a major urban area who have little to no reliable source of income are far
“When funds are taken away from the police... crime rates increase. more likely to steal their neighbors’ things, run illegal businesses, or commit any number of other crimes than people who are very wealthy or people who live three miles from their nearest neighbor. In places
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where there are more total crimes, retaliation is common and the rule of law is devalued, leading to higher rates of violent crime. These causes, along with American demographics are the reason why the majority of crime in the United States is intraracial crime, with a black or hispanic victim and perpetrator. Because of this higher rate of crime, more police are sent to these areas, leading to more interactions with police, and thus more violent interactions with police. If we want to look at the effectiveness of policing on lowering crime, one would look at areas with more and less policing and compare their crime rates. However, we can’t just look at the places with more and less policing in different parts of the nation because police are only put in places where there are more crimes. We need to instead look at specific areas that changed their police forces and time periods where the nation as a whole changed the institution of policing. The most notable of these times would have to be the significant number of changes to policing that took place in the 1980s. Between 1960 and 1980, wealth inequality, urbanization, and increasing population caused the rate of violent crime to almost quadruple. Fortunately for Americans living in poor urban
areas, who were disproportionately black, Congress did its part and passed an unprecedented set of laws that gave police better equipment and training. Simultaneously, localities around the nation increased police budgets substantially. Because of these increases to police funding and militarization, the very things that are now being called into question, the number of violent crimes peaked in 1993 and has fallen almost every year since. The timing of these crime-related changes, although significant, isn’t enough to prove that they are directly related, so let us look at the other factors. As I mentioned earlier, the communities in the United States that have the highest crime strongly skew urban and poor. However, poverty has remained rather stagnant, and urbanization has only increased. These factors could not predict the sudden drop in crime rates because they did not cause it. Unsurprisingly, when a society does a better job of equipping and protecting police officers, those officers do a better job of protecting and serving the communities in which they are deployed. One especially successful, and recently controversial, program is the 1033 program, where excess Department of Defense property is given to law enforcement agencies, particularly those involved with counter-drug
and counter-terrorism. This program gave police better equipment, like the armored vehicle that allowed them to stop the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016. This equipment also allowed police to enforce drug laws more strictly and effectively. Moreover, after the program was expanded in 1997, police were able to enforce laws not relating to drugs with said equipment. To conclude, I will address the long-standing notion that “police officers are never sent to jail even though they are all racist murderers.” In the case of Freddie Gray, some officers were charged with murder and a jury determined whether the officer was innocent or not. The result of the trials should be viewed as a positive one. Racist murder expecially when conducted by the police should not be tolerated in this country. And when racist murder is committed by police, like in the Walter Scott case and 16 others in 2015, police officers have been incarcerated. However, not all officers have been brought to justice for crimes. Nevertheless, there is a system in place to incarcerate the guilty. When police are better equipped and trained, crime rates fall significantly. When funds are taken away from the police, like they were in Memphis in the early 2010s, crime rates increase. Can we also reduce crime in other ways, such as reducing wealth inequality and investing in rural communities to decrease urbanization? Of course, but these solutions and having a functioning police force are not mutually exclusive. Right now, the top marginal tax rate is only 37 percent, but the average over the last 100 years is almost double that. We have the money to properly fund infrastructure, education, and social work, and we do not need to defund a critical part of our society to do so.
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Black Lives Matter Protest Map Kajal Dongre ’22
Seattle, Washington A unique protestor-led autonomous-zone was birthed in the city of Seattle amidst the ongoing BLM protests. After days of violent standoffs, protesters set up a “no-police zone” spanning over six blocks after police abandoned the east-precinct in an attempt to de-escalate tensions. This area was named “CHAZ”—Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone— later renamed the “CHOP” for Capitol Hill Occupation Protest. After initial police violence during demonstrations, protesters set up barricades to block out police from this area of the city. For most of June, CHOP was a successful site of protesting, showcases of black culture, and for allies to come together. However, in response to five shootings in the last two weeks of June, the city’s authorities have placed an emergency order to clear the zone for the sake of public safety.
Minne
As the death of George Floyd in Minneapoli city has been a major site for demonstration quickly turned chaotic as police clashed with using tear gas and pepper spray against peac established by the city. Due to the uproar fro City Council has approved a proposal to def program that will be better equipped to esta through multiple rounds of approval before tively listening and responding to protests.
Los Angeles, California
The population of Los Angeles, California, has rallied together in the name of intersectionality to highlight and fight racism in America. Instead of focusing on LGBTQ pride in June, LA Pride joined with Black Lives Matter to march in solidarity. LA Pride has been vocal in their allyship, participating in these protests, amplifying queer voices of color, and diversifying their own board. LA protesters are also calling for an emergency order to stop police from using batons, rubber bullets, and other riot gear that could potentially cause injury to demonstrators. Multiple celebrities and influencers have attended the LA protests in hopes of using their platform to engage their followers in the BLM movement. Crowd estimates throughout June have consistently varied from 30,000 to 100,000 protesters.
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Since May, public outcry has reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement to spawn countless protests around the country fighting against police brutality and discrimination against Black Americans. The epicenters of these protests are pushing to enact immediate and lasting police reform creating arguably the largest civil rights movement since the 60s.
eapolis, Minnesota
is reinvigorated the BLM movement, it is no surprise that the ns. Within the first few days following Floyd’s murder, protests h protesters. On June 2, 2020, NBC News reported of police ceful protesters marching past the 8 P.M. curfew previously om city residents andthe rest of the country, the Minneapolis fund and replace the current police department with a new ablish public safety. Although this proposal will have to go initiation, its presence indicates that city authorities are ac-
Washington, D.C.
As the United States capital, Washington, D.C. has transformed into a political battleground for Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters. Since May 29, there have been daily demonstrations fighting for legislative police reform and racially biased governing. Similar to Seattle, protestors have also attempted to form a police-free autonomous zones within the capital. Police have blocked these attempts with theuse of barricades and flashbangs. A defining part of these protests have been an effort to rid Washington of statues celebrating historical figures who have played a large role in the systemic oppression of minorities. In particular, in Lafayette Square, protestors have attempted to tear down a statue of Andrew Jackson. The acts were later deemed “disgraceful vandalism” in a tweet by President Trump.
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Louisville, Kentucky With racial targeting under the magnifying glass, the death of Breonna Taylor, killed by police in her home in Louisville on March 13, 2020, has kindled further outcries. Despite the initial violent protests in late May, the first two weeks of June consisted of primarily peaceful protests and civil police interactions. However, by June 15, the Louisville Metro Police resumed the use of pepper spray and riot gear in order to break up nightly demonstrations. Additionally, on June 27, a violent shooting occurred in Jefferson Square Park. Tyler Gerth, a 27-year-old protestor was killed by Steven Lopez, who shot over a dozen rounds aiming towards a protest campsite. The mayor of the city has released a statement expressing his hope that the violent incident does not slow down the progress of the peaceful protests.
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The Capital Hill Autonomous Zone Daniel Zhu ’23 As Black Lives Matter protests have spread across the United States and the world, Seattle has undoubtedly witnessed some of the most destructive standoffs, with police officers resorting to blast balls, tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and pepper spray to contain the protests. After days of clashing, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan ordered police to abandon the east precinct station on June 8 in the Capitol Hill district to de-escalate tensions. However, the protesters seized the roughly six-block area, declaring an autonomous “policefree” state: the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), also referred to as the Capital Hill Occupied Protest
(CHOP). With police presence being non-existent, CHAZ was a selfdescribed ad-hoc conglomeration of people and an open community space. Screening films, painting murals, holding vigils, and even growing a public garden were among the dozens of activities protestors were seen doing in CHAZ. On top of that, the zone had adopted a socialist and self-sustaining strategy with individuals assuming roles as armed guards along with several street vendors handing out food to on goers, to name a couple. But no matter how deeply one opposes racism and police brutality and supports the Black Lives Matter movement, a complete takeover of a central part of a major city is a disastrous situation doomed to descend toward violent, chaotic anarchy. The premise and ideology of CHAZ is comparable to many other events in the past, such as the Marxist movements of Italy in the 1960s and the Occupy Wall Street protests that occurred nearly a decade ago. Like CHAZ, both movements involved creating an autonomous zone maintained by protesters for extended periods of time. The Occupy Wall Street movement fought against economic inequality, but it rippled into protests in colleges, banks, and even corporate headquarters. The demonstrations are also widely credited with
introducing a significant emphasis on income equality into political discourse. Italy’s Marxist movements in the mid-20th century followed a similar path and successfully ended with negotiations between protestors and legislative leaders. However, CHAZ will come nowhere close to delivering anything substantial in terms of the reforms they are calling for. To begin, protesters’ demands span a wide spectrum; while some advocate for defunding the police, a rather vague term, others support more extreme measures including abolishing the Seattle police department, the U.S. court system, and youth jails, as well as disarming all cops. To occupy a nearly six-block area, one that houses taxpayers and businesses, in itself is outrageous and unheard of. And to have a Burning Man party-esque atmosphere without a clear-cut set of initiatives is ridiculous and counterproductive. To put it frankly, events over the past couple of months have revealed a large partisan divide, showing CHAZ will have little effect; most people and politicians already have a very stubborn and driven stance on the matter. In a Washington PostSchar School poll, researchers found a strong correlation between Democrats and Republicans and those who believed the ongoing protests were mostly peaceful or violent, respectively. While CHAZ has done an
“CHAZ will come nowhere close to delivering anything substantial in terms of the reforms they are calling for.” excellent job in garnering a unique media spotlight on police-reform and a call-to-action, it’s unlikely that people and politicians are looking at the chaos in Seattle and actively changing their perspective and
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stance on the current situation. Take President Donald Trump, one of the most recognizable faces of the rightwing, for example. In a recent tweet, he blatantly revealed his opposition towards the BLM movement: “LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE. The Radical left Democrats have gone crazy!” After the news of CHAZ made national headlines, he furthered by tweeting, “The terrorists burn and pillage our cities, and they think it is just wonderful...” and threatened to exercise the Intervention Act and send U.S. troops into CHAZ. With partisanship playing such a tremendous role in the BLM movement and police reform, CHAZ is accomplishing little at the expense of nearly six blocks of a major city, while also building onto the extreme narrative in which the right-wing has depicted protestors and activists to be. Not only do foundational issues with CHAZ render meaningful change improbable, many events that have since unfolded have only strengthened the opposition. While the media has widely distorted the extent of violence in the CHAZ—especially with news outlets like Fox News publishing misleading and digitally-altered photos—there is still truth to the claim that CHAZ is an
anarchy. In theory, anarchy, similar to communism, has the potential to create an idealistic society. However, with power freely up for grabs, history has proved anarchy to foster power struggles and often be a pretext for tyranny with heinous individuals taking the throne. While not as extreme, CHAZ confirmed this theory to be true once again. According to various sources and Reddit users, a hip-hop artist and “warlord” named Raz Simone and his heavily armed crew became the self-appointed “police” of the area. In a recent interview with Forbes Magazine, Simone came across as a “gregarious, open-minded, intelligent, enlightened, streetsmart and business-minded person,” who discussed plausible initiatives related to the defunding of police and working towards racial equality. However, following the release of a music video depicting him and his crew gang-raping a woman over a pile of cash, Simone’s background and true intentions are questionable. Reports from one Reddit user described Simone and his crew, armed with Ak-47s, distributing his new mixtape to as many individuals as possible while engaging the use of force, assault, and intimidation to control the area. Furthermore, several videos show Simone and his crew confront-
ing and assaulting people who were covering a building in graffiti—not because they were against graffiti, but rather, they wanted to guard the premises of businesses that they are allegedly allied with. It would be unjust to assert that Simone represents the people of CHAZ as a whole. However, the situation exposes the irony behind the creation of CHAZ; a rapper and his armed crew are using intimidation to keep protestors in-line with their agenda and police a communist state that protestors created because of the flaws in police brutality. All the meanwhile, the allegations and rumors are only building onto extreme right-wing portrayals providing them with the adequate ammunition needed to continue ridiculing protestors, a counterproductive measure in terms of the change demonstrators are pushing for. With a 19-year-old dead and several others injured after a fatal shooting in the area and many businesses filing federal lawsuits the could potentially cost the city millions of dollars, police cleared the state of CHAZ on July 2 due to the “repeated episodes of violence.” While it took some time for Mayor Durkan to act on the realization that a police-free zone is foredoomed anarchy, the decision to do so was the right one. As questionable individuals took advantage of open power and consumed nearly six blocks of a metropolitan area, productive measures were still not taken, merely proving that CHAZ wasn’t the most efficient means of protest to begin with. However, the protesters’ passion and communities nurtured within this short time frame will continue to live on.
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