From Rodney King to George Floyd, both acts of police brutality were captured on video for the world to see the evidence that lied behind a blue wall of silence.
Records show that public safety officers accused of brutality had previous complaints against them, according to police officials. The first use of the term in the American press was in 1872 when the Chicago Tribune reported the beating of a civilian who was under arrest.
The origin of modern policing based on the authority of the nation-state can be traced back to 18th century France, with modern police departments being established in many nations. Early records suggest that labor strikes were the first large-scale incidents of police brutality in the United States.
In America, it is common for marginalized groups to perceive the police as oppressors, rather than protectors or enforcers of the law, due to the statistically disproportionate number of minority incarcerations. However, the introduction of video recordings had altered the practice.
For example, Rodney Glen King was an American activist. On March 3, 1991, King was severely beaten by LAPD officers after a high-speed chase during his arrest for drunk driving and driving while intoxicated on I-210.
Twenty-five years ago this week, four Los Angeles policemen three of them white were acquitted of the savage beating of Rodney King, an African-American man. Caught on camera by a bystander, graphic video of the attack was broadcast into homes across the nation and worldwide.
When the verdict came out, it was a stunner for all American people coast to coast. Fury over their acquittal stoked by years of racial and economic inequality in Los Angeles, California spilled over into the streets, resulting in a week of rioting. It ignited a national conversation about racial and economic disparity and police use of force that still continues today.
This time it ended with a guilty verdict that set off jubilation around the Minneapolis, Minnesota. Folks flooded the streets downtown, running through traffic with banners. Cars blared their horns. Floyd family members gathered at a conference room could be heard cheering.
At least 181 Blacks have been killed by police since George Floyd's death. Society must realize that police, doctors and airline pilots need to do their jobs perfectly, or else people will definitely die. Most will probably agree that accountability is very near, but justice is not yet here. Citizens should not have to rely on camera evidence to stress that to serve and protect means exactly what it says.
