Americans let a virus scare them into emboldening the police to enforce petty laws. Now look at where we are.
George Floyd’s death was the tipping point
The United States in a total state of disorder and upheaval. On Memorial Day, a horrid video leaked onto the Internet that showed a Minneapolis police officer by the name of Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into the neck of a man in police custody named George Floyd. In the clip, Officer Chauvin can be seen on the ground next to a vehicle, visibly suffocating Floyd with his knee while Floyd writhes in pain and screams out in agony. Eventually, Lloyd passes out and he is later tragically pronounced dead in a hospital.
Predictably, the viral video triggered widespread outrage and cries for justice and large protests began to germinate around the country. But now, the singular incident has evolved into a larger and highly contentious racial issue due to the fact that the officer is a white man and the victim was a black man. This unforeseen development has thrown the entire country for a loop and now the news about the coronavirus pandemic has completely lost its intrigue. Griping about social distancing and mask wearing sounds silly and trivial compared to what is happening. Millions of people in America and across the world currently have their attention fixed on the chaotic situation that is still developing.
As of June 1st, there are some peaceful protests occurring across the United States in support of George Floyd, but they have been largely outnumbered by scores of disgustingly violent riots. The lawlessness, which includes looting, vandalism, assault, burglary, arson, and more, has most likely arisen from general discontent, nihilism, racial rage, socioeconomic strife, anti-capitalism, anti-Americanism, and seething hatred for police and authority. Notably, many of the riots are being encouraged and inflamed by left-wing anarchist paramilitias like Antifa and by extremist elements of the Black Lives Matter organization who aim to destabilize the country for their own nefarious purposes.
However, I am not too surprised about these developments. The country has been on the precipice of major unrest for quite some time given the extreme polarization that has been going on for the last decade. The ticking time bomb was going to explode eventually. I wager that restlessness from the recent lockdowns, grief from virus deaths, economic distress, loss of faith in government, and increased animus towards law enforcement may have been the last few straws that broke the camel’s back.
The police were given more power this year, especially for the coronavirus. But giving them all that power doesn’t seem too smart in retrospect, now does it?
“NYPD” by SCUBATOO is licensed under (CC BY 2.0)
Don’t get me wrong. I am supportive of law enforcement. I am no cop hater. I endorse law and order and I affirm that the police should be able to enforce reasonable laws reasonably. Unfortunately, when law enforcement comes into contact with a civilian or a group of civilians, bad things can happen every so often. It is just the law of averages. Most police officers are good, but at some point something bad will happen, even with a good cop. Therefore, given what people know about the police, and given what they know can happen when the police make contact with civilians, I am disappointed that so many people wanted more policing just because of a pandemic. But they certainly got more than what they bargained for.
I should remind those individuals who begged the state to send police officers to enforce social distancing that the police are a coercive tool of the government. The role of the police is to enforce the law handed down by the government. By force if necessary. And it is indisputable that based on how police officers make arrests, some level of force is typically required. The police are charged with monitoring the citizenry and performing arrests when there are credible threats to the civic order and when legislation written by government officials is broken. I would be remiss if I failed to inform or remind those people who love and trust the government with all their soul and might that law enforcement is punitive by design. Police officers are supposed to instill fear to some degree. That is why they carry deadly weapons, wear formal uniforms with badges, and drive vehicles with loud sirens and flashing lights.
When state authority gets broadened, especially all of a sudden, serious abuse by law enforcement can occur, and it can take place in the most egregious and preposterous way possible. Remember when the lockdowns were first being put in place? Who was primarily charged with enforcing them? Umm..the police! But clearly, all that it took was widespread panic over a virus for people to throw away their civil liberties and delegate complete authority to the state. They empowered the state to use the police as a means towards enforcing so-called social distancing mandates on law-abiding citizens who just wanted to swim at the beach or take public transport without a mask on.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the police have been granted extensive powers to go after citizens for breaking rules that were basically created yesterday. While violent felons, sex offenders, and other dangerous people have been released from prisons and permitted to spend the rest of their sentences outside of the penitentiary, police officers have been going after peaceable citizens in parks and recreational areas for not following so-called social distancing protocols. The result? Even more people dislike police than before.
At the present time, the police force is being targeted for racial reasons but I will not be focusing on that aspect. For this three-section post, I will be emphasizing on the ridiculous coronavirus-related police overreach that has occurred over the past few months. In the next section, I will provide multiple examples of how the police abused their power during the coronavirus pandemic period and how their acts of mistreatment tie into the current chaos engulfing the country. Correct me if I’m wrong, but three male police officers wrestling a mother to the ground in front of her child because she is not wearing a face mask simply just isn’t a good look for police officers. Innumerable people have lost former respect for cops since March and that is a big reason why the police are being targeted by the mob. The disdain for police is also a big contributing factor as to why various parts of the country have suddenly become hellscapes.
Section II coming soon.
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