Police Brutality

            Protests against police brutality and structural racism have been taking place throughout history as protesters have been calling for the authorities to address structural racism and promote meaningful police accountability measures. George Floyd's murder was not a unique case but served as a cruel reminder of the unnecessary force that law enforcement tends to use during encounters with minority groups, especially African Americans.

The recent wave of unrest that was sparked by George Floyd’s death can be compared to the ‘Long Hot Summer’ of 1967 that involved a series of race riots that occurred in more than 150 American cities (George, 2018). The civil unrest brought attention to systemic racism and police brutality as the hopes for a better future for black Americans was eroding as a result of police violence, prejudice, unemployment, and poverty. Even though President Lyndon B. Johnson led a campaign for racial justice, many African Americans believed that progress was proceeding too slowly and demanded an immediate solution to the problems (George, 2018).

In response to the protests, President B. Johnson formed the Kerner Commission that sought to identify the cause of the violent riots. In March 1968, the Kerner Commission identified white racism as the cause of the civil unrest, as opposed to black anger (George, 2018). The commission claimed that the then-American society was characterized by voter suppression, high unemployment, inadequate or poor housing, unscrupulous consumer credit practices, a flawed justice system, bad policing practices, and other culturally embedded forms of racial discrimination. The panel reported that white society significantly affected the ghetto, having been created and maintained by white institutions (George, 2018).

The panel called for the continued polarization of American society as well as the destruction of basic democratic values. Additionally, the panel called for the mounting of programs, on a scale equal to the nature of the problems, which sought to close the gap between promise and performance (George, 2018). The panel claimed that there is a need to carry out new experiments and initiatives that sought to change the system of frustration and failure that had a significant influence in the ghetto and weakened the American society.