Police Brutality and Abuse of Power
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will…The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
--- Frederick Douglass
Like you, we at Equal Justice Under Law are angered over the unjustified killing of George Floyd and countless others. Like many of you, we too have taken to the streets in protest and to organize comfort services for other protesters. The government’s response here in Washington, D.C. --- armored vehicles, officers with assault rifles, indiscriminate use of tear gas --- only emphasizes the longstanding, structural inequities we’re fighting to change. Across the country, other law enforcement agencies have also been battling chants with tear gas and combating demonstrations with arrests. Government officials in those cities are desperately trying to keep the unsustainable status quo. They will fail.
Unjustified police violence is a tragic example of the many, many ways our criminal justice system continually fails communities across the country. Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be stopped by police, more likely to be arrested, more likely to be charged, more likely to be convicted, and, if convicted, more likely to receive longer prison sentences, even when controlled for other variables. These disparities exist at every stage of the criminal justice process.
We are fighting daily actions that can devastate families. Right now, we are fighting in Missouri for people who have suspended driver’s licenses when their only “crime” is being poor, yet they need those same licenses to get to work. In Louisiana, tens of thousands of people with old, minor convictions cannot have their records expunged --- and therefore get a job --- because they cannot afford to pay exorbitant expungement fees. In California, we are fighting a private probation company that profits off of poor people by threatening jail for failure to pay unreasonable probation fees. These fights, and many others, are necessary to reduce the inequality that permeates our justice system.
Despite our work, we are by no means experts in all of the ways the government has incorporated racism, classism, and other forms of discrimination into the justice system. In the event you too are learning, below are a few resources that may be helpful:
Sesame Street hosted a virtual town hall to address racism.
NPR compiled a useful reading list of books about racism.
Medium shared a list of 75 things white people can do for racial justice.
Police brutality and systemic inequality will continue unless we create real and sustainable change in every aspect of our society by demanding the power the government refuses to concede. We pledge to continue fighting for greater equality in the criminal justice system. Please visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay up-to-date on our cases and to join the fight with us.