Police Abuse: An Ongoing Problem

The massive incarceration of Black and Brown people and the brutality of police is a problem that can be traced to years of propaganda and stereotyping. The miseducation of Americans was a purposeful act to extend the ideas of white superiority and Black inferiority. It also extended hatred against women and others marginalized by the dominant winds of intolerance. The case today is a continuance of police abuse and racism rolled up into secret meetings within police departments. The latest headline is from the Atlanta Black Star: ‘Hit Black People in the Liver’: LAPD Cops Caught In Secret Recordings Bragging About Racist Abuse and Targeting Black Citizens.” 

The article reported, “A 10-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department secretly recorded dozens of conversations in the department’s recruitment office . . .  of officers and supervisors making racist statements and even targeting their colleagues with derogatory homophobic language.” 

We all know police have a difficult job. However, this doesn’t equate to a norm in which every situation should be solved through force. Officers across the country have used excessive force when interacting with suspects, especially Black and Brown suspects, leading to serious injuries or deaths that could have been avoided in the first place. 

The Thurgood Marshall Institute reports, “Project 2025 will weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to promote failed and punitive criminal legal strategies that have harmed Black communities for generations.” Racist police officers across the country are given the green light to abuse the public by omission, by the weaponization of police stops, and by police unions that were organized to protect criminal behavior by officers. The case of the LA Police Department is not just an isolated incident but one in which Black officers are expected to go along with abuse of their own community.

AXIOS reported, “Black and Latino residents continued to be disproportionately affected, both nationally and locally, based on new neighborhood data that Campaign Zero began tracking in 2024. In Chicago, for example, Black residents were more than 30 times more likely to be killed than white residents. In St. Louis, Black residents were more than 10 times more likely to be killed than white residents.” 

This rise in police violence nationwide is a deeply troubling trend that demands action and protest. The words and actions of some members of the LA Police Department are but the tip of the iceberg. We must oppose this at every level as the resistance against extremist conservatism is being elevated across the country.